My Little Pony: Darkness Rising
by CJ Ambrose
Summary: Twilight and her friends are informed of someone that could potentially have the power to wipe out all of Equestria. Also, a former enemy seeks help from those that may have some trouble in actually trusting him. Sequel to "An Epic Adventure"; takes place almost two years after "A Race Against Time", and during season 8.
1. Chapter 1

**My Little Pony: Darkness Rising**

 **Chapter 1 -** A Watchful Protector

 **Disclaimer:** _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_ belongs to Hasbro and DHX Media. I just own the story.

 **Author's Note:** So, yeah, I know I'm not really done yet with _Playing With Fire_ , but when an idea for a great story appears in my head, I just have to get it published before I end up forgetting it.

Also, this story is actually more of a sequel to _An Epic Adventure_ than to the previous stories; it takes place in the same dimension, but is more like a stand-alone sequel… to give an example, this and _Adventure_ would be the Pokémon movies (First Movie, 2000), and _Playing With Fire_ would be part of the current season leading up to this movie.

With that being said, enjoy the story, and see you next time!

* * *

 _In the land of Equestria and beyond, there are as many stories as there are these incredible creatures who inhabit it... some remain secret to all those but a select few, while others have become the stuff of legend, and there are those who were born of our dreams._

 _Like the Equestrians themselves, these tales have survived the test of time, and with each passing day, countless adventures unfold from the top of the world to the bottom of the sea._

 _In the main part of Equestria itself, there are four powerful princesses. One for the day, one for the night, one for family, and then, there's the most important princess of all: Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, who makes sure that everyone feels like they belong, enjoying their lives in a magical world of friendship._

 _And she doesn't do it alone... helping her along the way on this amazing journey are Twilight's closest friends, who along with the princess herself, all represent the Elements of Harmony - generosity, honesty, laughter, kindness, loyalty, and magic._

 _But there are those who seek to rule all of Equestria with wrongful intentions, and although the Mane 6 have been able to help several realize the error of their ways, there are others that remain in the darkness, waiting for the perfect moment to deliver a fatal blow... which is where our story will soon begin, with a relentless being that wants to put Twilight's story of friendship to a tragic end._

 _But until that time comes, remember what I said earlier about some stories choosing to remain secret? Well, one of them is about to be revealed, and it's up to Twilight and her friends to decide on if that was the right choice to make, or have it remain secluded forever..._

 _############_

"Looks like this year's off to a great start, Blazer."

A pair of criminal ponies were currently sitting around in an abandoned warehouse, counting all of the money meant for a children's hospital that they had stolen from a jewelry outlet store.

"You alright? Why aren't you saying anything?"

Blazer nodded his head, but he had a nervous facial expression. "I'm fine, Frost… but I just think that we should've robbed the store the old-fashioned way instead of using the weapon you brought from that pegasus."

The pony was referring to the mechanical weapon that was laying nearby Frost's hooves, and a smile appeared on his partner's face as he grabbed ahold of it, then proceeding with activating the weapon.

It began shooting out blasts of deadly electricity, which lightened up the warehouse, and once he stopped, Frost said, "Why bother when this makes things so much easier? Not even the cops could-"

"It's not the cops that worry me," interrupted Blazer, who was also taking an occasional look around their surroundings. "What if… you know… he shows up?"

A slight frown appeared on Frost's face after hearing what his friend had said. "Who in the hell are you talking about?"

Blazer gulped, and he put a stop to his money-counting before saying, "You know… the vigilante that ponies say only comes out when the daylight has almost gone, but it's not completely dark… he put a stop to that one operation over in Klugetown…"

Once Frost realized who his partner was talking about, he surprised Blazer by erupting into laughter. "You can't be freaking serious right now… that pony doesn't even exist! And even if he did, the last sighting of him was out in Saddle Arabia a few days ago, so there's no way in hell that he'd be able to get all the way over here to Abyssnia in that time frame."

There were still signs of fear in Blazer's eyes, especially because of the position that the sun was in right now, so Frost added, "Just finish countin' up the money, and we'll get outta here."

"You ain't got to tell me twice," replied Blazer, and the two of them continued on with going through the bags filled up with stolen money, but just as they were about to finish…

 _CRRREEEAAAAKK_!

"Um… w-what was that?"

Frost shook his head, and gestured over to the doorway, saying, "Will you relax, pal? It was probably just the wind blowin' open the door… hurry up and close it, yeah?"

Not wanting to run into the rumoured vigilante, Blazer hurried over to the front door while Frost kept on counting his bag of money, and a few minutes later, he closed up the bag while having a smile on his face.

"Alright, Johnny, now you just got to finish up with… counting up… Johnny?"

 _WHAM!_

Suddenly, the door was slammed shut, and Frost quickly flinched before yelling out, "What the fu… Blazer, this is no time to be messin' around!"

No response was given, so Frost quickly grabbed ahold of his weapon, and exclaimed, "Blazer, you'd better get your damn bag, or I'm just gonna leave without you!"

"Ugggh… F-Frost..." To his surprise, Frost turned around to find his partner, but for some reason, he looked like he'd gotten in a losing fight with someone.

"Blazer? What in Equestria happened to you?"

Too weak to speak, Blazer lifted up his front hoof to point at something - or someone - behind Frost, who turned around to find himself looking at the individual that his partner had been talking about.

After blinking his eyes a few times, Frost started to let out a chuckle, and he said, "This is the pony that I'm supposed to be so afraid of?"

 _"No… that's just a decoy."_

Before Frost could respond to whoever had spoken, he felt someone knock the weapon out of his hooves, followed by getting attacked from behind, and the pony groaned after landing hard on the floor.

"Who… the hell… do you think you are?" growled Frost, as he tried to stand up, but his sentence was cut-off after getting a solid and powerful kick to his chest, causing him to fly back a few feet into a stack of empty cardboard boxes.

Then, the criminal pony felt a pair of hooves grab ahold of him, and soon found himself looking into the face of the feared vigilante.

"You and your friend over there know _exactly_ who the hell I am… now, tell me who gave you that weapon, or you'll end up starting the new year in the emergency ward."

A frown appeared on Frost's face, and he replied, "I don't have to tell you nothing… except that you'd better let me go before I - _owww_!"

"You were saying?" asked the vigilante, raising a single eyebrow.

" _Ow-ow-ow-ow_ … alright, alright, I'll talk, I'll talk," cried Frost, wanting the pain that he was receiving to stop. "It was from a pegasus in a cloak, but he never showed his face… all that he asked for us to do in return was-"

 _KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!_

On the other side of the door was a group of the city's police officer ponies, and one of them was knocking very hard on the door.

 _"This is the police! We know you're in there!"_

No one gave him a response, so the officer raised his gun, as well as everypony else, and they barged their way into the warehouse, searching for any signs of the two ponies that had robbed the jewelry store.

" _Sweet Celestia_ … what the Tartatus happened to them?"

To their surprise, they found one of them lying near the bags of stolen money while the other was buried in a pile of empty cardboard boxes.

However, as the officers began to apprehend the criminals, none of them realized that the weapon that Frost had used was gone.

 _###########_

 _You certainly have a way with words, Jack._

The young vigilante scoffed as he placed the acquired mechanical device on a nearby table, once he had returned to his home.

"Eh, what else can I say? Now, if you'll excuse me, Starswirl, I - _gah, damn it_!"

He had been trying to remove his cloak so that he could then hang it up, but part of the fabric accidentally brushed up against one of his recently-gained scars that had not healed completely just yet.

 _You really should be wearing more protective material whenever you're out there doing stuff like this._

"And slow myself down because I have on unneccesary stuff? No way… besides, it's not as bad as the other ones."

 _Oh, well, doesn't that just make everything better?_

Ignoring the sarcastic tone in his mentor's voice, the vigilante made his way over to a bulletin board, which contained a list of all the _heroic_ things that he'd done to help others over the years, and he began to add in today's events.

 _It would also be more better in many ways if you didn't do these things alone, Jack… maybe some friends that-_

The vigilante shook his head, knowing where this conversation was headed. "I already told you, Starswirl, I don't need to have any friends in my life. I didn't have any when I first arrived almost eight years ago - technically - and I've done pretty well so far with not having any."

 _You also didn't recieve as many scars and bruises back then as you have now, correct?_

Rolling his eyes, the young pony started walking back over to the weapon to take another look, and he muttered, "You already know what my decision is on this particular subject."

 _Yes, I do, unfortunately… which is I must apologize right now for what's about to happen._

Confusion appeared on the vigilante's face after hearing what his mentor had said, but before he could ask him about it, he suddenly had a feeling that he wasn't the only one inside of the house.

"Starswirl, what's going on?"

…

 _I hate it when he does that_ , thought the vigilante, knowing that he wasn't going to be recieving any kind of help whatsoever from the elderly spirit. _Alright, so who in the hell decided to_ -

Suddenly, the mysterious pony lowered his head, as if to avoid getting hit by something, and then, he saw that there was a dart stuck right into his bulletin board.

"Wow, like I've never had to avoid _those_ before," he said in a dry tone, followed by knocking the dart away with his hoof. "So, what do you-"

 _Wham!_

After getting struck in the back of a head by what felt like a large frying pan, the vigilante started to feel a little woozy, and he muttered, "This… is different…"

Turning his head to see who it was that whacked him, his eyes widened in surprise. "How in the _hell_ did you-"

 _Wham!_

Before falling down into a state of unconciousness, the young pony said, "Right… I forgot… don't question it."


	2. Redemption Complete

**My Little Pony: Darkness Rising**

 **Chapter 2 - Redemption Complete**

 **Disclaimer:** _"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"_ belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight, and FanficFan920 is the one who created Beck.

* * *

" _Beck? Step forward, please."_

The middle-aged pony nodded his head, and did as he was instructed, standing in the middle of the royal Canterlot throne room. In front of him were the thrones that were currently occupied by Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence, and behind were Twilight, Casey, Starlight, Spike, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Applejack.

The reason that everyone was there was because that, after Beck had apologized to all of those that he had captured, Twilight wanted him to hear from the rulers of Equestria that he was no longer deemed a threat to anyone around him.

" _Where's Pinkie_?" whispered Starlight, noticing that the pink pony was not with them, and Spike shrugged his shoulders in response while Princess Luna decided to speak.

"The last time that you were in this room, Beck, was not long after you had commited your terrible crimes, as well as when both Twilight and Casey were cleared to leave the hospital."

 _Poof!_

Suddenly, Beck found himself locked up inside of a cage, and casually laying across the top was Discord, who gave a small wave to everyone. "So sorry for being late, but it took me a while to find his old cage… which may or may not have actually been taken out from Princess Twilight's dungeon, but anyway, please go on."

While Twilight brought a hoof to her forehead, Princess Cadence stood up as she began to speak next. "Your fate was then put into the hooves of Princess Twilight, who decided to take it upon herself into making sure that you completely understood the wrongness of your terrible actions against your own kind, and she helped you accomplish this by making apologies to all that were captured by you. Is that correct?"

"Y-yes, your Highness," replied Beck, nodding his head, and everyone looked over at Celestia, waiting for her to take her turn in talking to him.

"What do you plan on doing for the rest of your life, Beck?" asked the white royal alicorn.

After letting out a sigh, Beck stood up straight, and looked at the co-ruler of Equestria, as well as his secret teenage crush, with a sincere expression. "I just… want to live in happiness and positivity, your Hignesses, instead of rage and negativity… to resume doing what I used to long ago, which was continuing to study various plants from all over Equestria, along with a little bit of tinkering here and there, inside of my new place… and, um, that's pretty much it so far."

Celestia nodded her head, and she turned her attention to the Princess of Friendship. "Do you see him able to live his life this way, Twilight, without having to worry suffer through any kind of relapse?"

"Yes, I can, Princess Celestia," replied Twilight, which brought a small smile to Beck's face. "He knows that what he did was wrong, and I understand that it was out of extreme grief for the loved ones that he lost as a result of my - Tirek's rampage across Equestria. He just needed somepony to point him in the right direction of healing, and I was just the pony to do it."

A smirk appeared on Casey's face as he quietly agreed with his special somepony. True, he was far from even considering Beck as a friend, but in the end, Casey knew that the green-furred pony was no longer the same notorious and cruel animal that had landed both himself and Twilight in the hospital.

"Well, then I suppose there's only a few more things left to say." Beck looked over at the Princess of the Night, who had on a small smile. "In the eyes of everyone here, Beck, you will no longer be viewed as a villainous and vengeful pony, but one that regrets the mistakes he made, and would go to great lengths to feel like he belonged."

The middle-aged Earth Pony let out a sigh of relief, but before he could say anything, Luna had something else to add. "Be wise and careful of any important choices you make in the future that could lead us regretting to not taking further action against you."

"I hear you _loud and clear_ , your Highness," said Beck, just as Discord snapped his fingers to make the cage vanish into thin air, with the draconeques now floating nearby Twiilght' friends, and he delivered a bow to the trio of princesses. "I would again like to offer my apologies for what I did to you all, and assure you that I will never do something like that again."

Then, to his surprise, Beck found himself looking up at Princess Celestia after he had stood back up. "And, once again, Beck, we all accept your apology… also, try a little harder with keeping certain secrets to yourself."

After Celestia gave him a quick wink, a sheepish smile appeared on Beck's blushing face, and he nodded his thanks before saying, "T-thank you, Princesses… I… uh… t-think I need a-"

"Alright, let's go get you some water before you pass out," said an amused Rainbow, quickly taking Beck out of the throne room, and Celestia looked over at Twilight, who seemed conflicted about something.

"Was there anything else that you had on your mind, Twilight?"

Her former pupil nodded, and she placed a hoof on the back of her neck, rubbing it a little while saying, "It's just that I… well… ever since we've got the school up and running again, I was also planning on having another, um, Friendship Festival here….in a week from today? I mean, it has almost been a year since the first one, and…"

"Oh?" replied Celestia, giving the young alicorn a warm smile. "What else did you have in mind regarding this second festival?"

While Twilight began to answer her question, Spike noticed that Rarity appeared to be bothered about something. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not quite sure just yet," replied the white and frowning unicorn. "But I feel as if Pinkie's using one of my own ideas without even asking."

* * *

After finally being able to gain back his conciousness, the vigilante pony quickly realized that he was no longer inside of his home. In fact, for some reason, he had been tied to a chair, and was currently sitting in front of a wooden desk, with only a single lightbulb from above as a source of light. "What the _[BEEP]_ is all this?"

 _I had only one question for him, and that was if he was a bad pony, or a good pony._

Stepping out of the shadows was Pinkie Pie, wearing a brown trench coat and matching fedora hat, and she quietly glared at the tied-up pony sitting in front of her.

 _He certainly doesn't look like a bad pony, but you just never know these days. Can't be too careful, right?_

"Okay, why don't you do yourself a favor, Pinkie, and-"

"How do you know who I am, huh?" questioned the pink pony, raising a suspicious eyebrow at him.

He closed his eyelids halfway, and replied, "It certainly isn't that hard to figure out… now, can you _please_ get me out of this damn thing?"

Pinkie shook her head, and she said, "You aren't going anywhere until everyone's returned from what they are doing out in Canterlot. In the meantime, however, you and _I_ are going to have some _fun_ … keep your eyes on him, Gummy, while I get the special stuff."

As the young Earth Pony disappeared into the darkness, her captive saw that there was now a small toothless green alligator standing on top of the table, currently facing in the same direction as him, and the vigilante pony let out a sigh. "I can't even tell if you are looking at me or not."

Gummy just blinked his eyes a few times, remaining silent while the captured pony shook his head. "Great, I'm even _talking_ to the damn thing now."


	3. New Arrivals

**My Little Pony: Darkness Rising**

 _Chapter 3 - New Arrivals_

 **Disclaimer:** _"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"_ belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight, and FanficFan920 is the one who created Beck.

* * *

"So, are ya sure that you want to do this, Twilight?"

Everyone was now sitting inside of the Friendship Express, which was heading back to Ponyville, and they were discussing Twilight's current plan that included having another Friendship Festival next week.

"Yeah, I mean… things didn't exactly get off to an easy start," reminded Rainbow, giving a small shrug. "Still, it _would_ be nice if I - we could find a way to invite the pirates."

"And I don't recall the last time that I saw Capper," said Rarity, unaware of Spike now muttering some words underneath his breath with an annoyed expression.

"Maybe even reach out to the hippogriffs?" suggested Fluttershy, and the rest of her friends looked at her. "What? Pinkie isn't here to suggest it."

"Speakin' of which, where _is_ Pinkie at anyway?" wondered Applejack. "I don't think any of us have seen her all day."

As for Starlight, she was looking at Casey with concern. The young pony was sitting next to him by the window,.quietly staring at whatever he saw but not paying much attention.

 **Flashback**

" _Whatever happens, Casey," said Anti-Stardust, giving his former enemy one last warning. "Don't let him get to your Twilight. Don't let yourself go through the same type of the pain that I did. Whenever he comes, do_ _anything_ _to keep her safe from harm."_

 _Then, he jumped through the magical portal that had been created for him, and the young pony was left feeling speechless, unsure as to what-_

 **Present**

" _Casey? You okay?"_ Starlight nudged him on the shoulder, and Casey turned to look at his friend.

"Yeah, I'm… fine," he replied, giving the pink unicorn a weak smile. "Just thinking about certain memories."

* * *

Flash Sentry was currently walking around the halls of the castle that belonged to Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, but he suddenly found himself shivering for a moment after passing through a certain hall.

"Why did it get so _cold_ all of a sudden?" wondered Flash, and he turned to the side, seeing a door that bore a carving of Princess Twilight's Cutie Mark, surrounded by five smaller carvings that belonged to her friends.

Just as he was about to place one of his hooves on it, an older and more experienced royal guard caught his attention after saying, " _Hey, Sentry!_ What are you doing over there?"

"Nothing, sir, I just... it suddenly got really cold in here, for some reason," replied Flash, and the other guard rolled his eyes. "No, really, it was right after I passed-"

"You're in the _Crystal Empire_ , son," pointed out the guard. "It's _supposed_ to feel cold… now, continue with your patrol. We don't need another Earth Pony breaking into here and causing destruction."

With the guard's eyes keeping focus on Flash, the young pegasus continued walking down the hall, and as the other guard went in the opposite direction, Flash decided that perhaps it would be best to inform the two rulers about what he'd felt. _It was more than just the cold weather that's usually outside… but I don't know exactly_ _ **what**_ _it could be._

Little did he know that there was something sinister going on inside of the special room, as well as the fact that an unknown figure was making his way back down from the ceiling, with a sly and devious grin on his face.

* * *

"Here. Put this over your eyes."

Pinkie held out a decorative bandana in front of the vigilante's face, and he raised an eyebrow at her. "Exactly _how_ do you expect me to put that on?"

"Well, _duh_ , with your… _ohhh, right_." The pink pony now noticed that her captive was still tied up to a chair, so she decided to put it on for him.

 _Oh, sweet Jesus,_ thought the vigilante pony, having no idea on what to make of this other than knowing that this shouldn't be _too_ terrible. It _was_ Pinkie, after all.

Once the blindfold was covering up the young pony's eyes, she stepped back a little bit, and said, "Tell me what kind of flavor this is."

 _The [BEEP] does she mean by -_

Suddenly, something chewy and sweet was put into the bearded pony's mouth, and after tasting it, her captive said, "Chocolate cake. Easy."

"Well, how about this one?" asked Pinkie, now giving him a quick slice of another cake, and watched patiently as he chewed it up into tiny pieces before eventually swallowing.

Just as he was about to answer, Pinkie decided to give him a quick sip of milk, and after that, he answered, "Cookies n' cream. What else you got?"

Meanwhile, Casey, Twilight, Spike, and Starlight were all making their way back to the castle, and as they began to walk up the steps, the pink unicorn asked, "So, how come Pinkie decided _not_ to show up to Canterlot again?"

"I'm not really sure exactly, but I don't think it was anything _too_ serious," replied Twilight, while Spike opened up the castle doors. "Maybe she just-"

"Uh, _Twilight_?" Everyone turned their attention over to the young dragon, now already inside. "Why is everything so dark in here?"

For some reason, as the quartet entered their home, they were standing inside of complete darkness, but before Twilight or Starlight could light up the room with their magical horns, the light returned, and revealed Pinkie standing by a table in the middle of the room with several cakes on top of it.

"So, this is my punishment? You're going to force me to eat a whole bunch of random- _[BEEP]_ cakes?"

In front of Pinkie was a gold Earth pony that was tied sitting to a chair, and a voice that sounded very familiar to the newly arrived Equestrians.

"Well, I'm not really _forcing_ you to eat these, _per se_ … I just wanted to see if- oh, hi, everyone! How did the meeting go?"

" _Uhhhh… Pinkie?"_ asked a confused Twilight, who was slowly making her way over to them. "Why is he tied up to a chair?"

 _Well, this certainly isn't the way I imagined meeting her again,_ thought the vigilante pony, and acting as if she'd forgotten that small detail, Pinkie began to untie him.

"Because I wanted to make sure that he wouldn't go away before you came back," replied Pinkie, which made Twilight bring a hoof to her forehead, and Starlight let out a sigh.

"You couldn't have just _asked_ him to wait here patiently until we came back?" said the pink unicorn.

 _ **That**_ _voice is one I don't recognize,_ thought the vigilante pony.

" _Ohhhh…_ I guess I forgot about that," admitted a sheepish Pinkie, and Twilight rolled her eyes. "But I did bring you what you asked for, Twilight!"

" _Wha_ \- I never asked you to do anything like this!" cried the young alicorn. "When did I tell you to…"

After the un-tied ropes fell down to the floor, Pinkie's mane suddenly became similar to Twilight's own as she said, "Remember? That one day you were all ' _Why can't we just have our own Stardust to help us out with problems like this'_..."

She then brought her mane back to its original style. "It took me some time, but I was able to find him, so without further ado, I present to you: _Stardust Balance, vigilante of Equestria, Warrior of Twilight, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera!"_

All of Pinkie's friends just blinked quietly at the smiling Earth pony while the young vigilante muttered, "It's technically the _Twilight Warrior_ …."

" _Oops!_ Let me try that again, then," said Pinkie, now clearing her throat, but just as she was about to introduce him again, Twilight used her magic to move Pinkie away from Stardust, and began to remove the bandana that was covering up his face.

"I'm so sorry about this, Stardust, if I had known she would…"

"No, it's fine, there's no harm in me eating some free cake, Princess…" said Stardust, with him and Twilight pausing their sentences after the bandana was removed, and they were now looking at each other.

"So… are you okay, then?" asked a concerned Twilight.

A smile appeared on Stardust's face, and he nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm… just fine now…"

Then, the two ponies went back to being silent until Casey cleared his throat, and asked, "How is uh, your girlfriend doing, Star?"

Stardust's smile turned into a frown as he looked at the young Earth pony that had spoken. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't have a girlfriend."

"Huh? Did you and Twilight break up or something?" asked a confused Starlight.

 _Who_ _ **are**_ _these two ponies anyway?_ thought Stardust, who replied, " _No_ , because me and Princess Twilight here never even became a couple in the first place, and I think I would've definitely remembered something like that happening."

Starlight and Casey shared the same confused look with each other, and as for Twilight, she looked over at Pinkie. "You didn't hurt him on the head or anything, did you?"

"Well, I _technically_ only hit his face a couple of times with a frying pan," answered Pinkie. "But what does that have to do anything?"

" _Pinkie!_ You might have affected his memories or something," exclaimed Twilight, quickly giving Stardust an apologetic smile before going back to her friend. "And I've _told_ you about how I feel when you don't ask to-"

"I didn't use the Crystal Mirror," replied the energetic pony. "Why would I… _ohhhhh_ , I see…" She then started to let out a chuckle, much to everyone's confusion. "This isn't _that_ Stardust, Twilight, he's _our_ very ownStardust!"

" _What?_ " exclaimed the others that were in the room, and Pinkie simply nodded her head.

"Yeah, I mean, why else would he be saying… _ohhh_ , you thought I was hurting the _other_ -"

Suddenly, Stardust began to shake his head while starting to get out of the chair. " _Whoa, whoa,_ okay… can someone _else_ besides Pinkie please explain me to what in the _[BEEP]_ is going on here?"

"Alright, but just take it easy, Stardust," said Casey, just as Twilight was about to explain. "Let's not-"

 _Who the [BEEP] is this clown supposed to be?_ thought the bearded vigilante. "Uh, who are _you_ again exactly?"

"I'm Casey," replied the light-orange Earth Pony, and he gestured over to Twilight. "And her special somepony."

Stardust's eyes went wide after hearing that, and he cried, " _Casey?_ What the… _that's_ your actual name? And when the _[BEEP]_ did you start dating… oh, my _God_ …" He began to groan while placing a hoof over his eyes. "This is _[BEEP]-ing Sentry all over again_ …"

Casey started to frown, as well, but just as he was about to march right over to Stardust, Starlight held him back, and she said, "Um, Stardust? Maybe it'd be best if we, uh, started to explain all of this from the beginning."

Twilight nodded her head, in agreement, and Stardust replied, "Uh… _okay_ , but first… do you mind if I ask who _you_ are?"

"I'm Starlight Glimmer," replied the pink unicorn, offering Stardust a hoofshake, and it took a moment for him to accept her offer as politely as possible.

 _Starlight Glimmer… Sunset Shimmer… sheesh, they couldn't have put more effort into making them_ _ **not**_ _sound similar?_ thought Stardust, who was now letting go of Starlight's hoof.

"Right, then…" said Twilight, while Casey continued muttering underneath his breath, for some reason. "Okay, Stardust, this all started back kinda a couple years ago when me and my friends were all taking a trip to the Crystal Empire…"

* * *

As he stood atop a grass-covered hill, Beck looked quietly at what remained of his old home.

 _All of those years I spent… filled with pointless anger against an innocent princess… and it led me to almost committing the worst crime ever in Equestrian history…_

He then remembered everything that had happened earlier today, and a smile appeared on his face.

 _Now, thanks to Twilight and her friends… I get to have a fresh new start at life… a chance to create new memories… heh, maybe now I can go back to studying that one flower I-_

Suddenly, his thoughts of happiness were interrupted by everything around him suddenly going darker, and the middle-aged pony began to wish that he'd brought an umbrella with him, but as he began to walk away, Beck saw that only a certain part of the area was covered in shadows while everywhere else was still bright and sunny. _What in the world is… gah!_

After looking up into the sky, Beck quickly ran as fast as he could so that he would be able to avoid being crushed by a giant airship that was landing onto the ground.

 _Thud!_

Then, one of the side doors opened automatically, followed by a ramp that was making its way to the ground, and a few moments later, a purple unicorn began to walk down the ramp, with a hoof placed on the side of her head.

" _Ugh…_ that is _the_ last time I'm ever letting you drive this thing, Grubber."

She was followed soon after by a pudgy grey hedgehog that had white-furred spikes, and was currently munching on a slice of carrot cake.

"What's the matter, Tempest? It's not like I did any kind of damage to… _ohhhh, my gosshh…_ did I do that?" Grubber was now looking at the remains of Beck's old home. "I sure hope not."

Before Tempest could even say anything to him, an approaching Beck gave Grubber an answer. "Not to worry, it's been like that for ages now… and, uh, thanks for not making me a pancake."

"I'm sorry about that," said Tempest, after scowling at the sheepish hedgehog. "Would you happen to know if Princess Twi…" She found herself pausing her sentence for a moment. "Your voice sounds… familiar to me… _oh!_ You're that guest of Princess Twilight who hurt his tongue while eating, correct?"

Once Beck remembered what she was referring to, he began rubbing the back of his neck while saying, "Uh… yeah, that was… me…"

* * *

"Spike, how many times are you going to be playing that _same_ game?"

With the game controller in his claws, a concentrated Spike said, "It's not the same… game, Twilight… it's three on one remastered disk, and right now, I'm on the _Warped_ ga - _no!_

 **GAME OVER!**

"You don't have to be scared, Twilight," said a smirking Spike, referring to the tiki-head that had suddenly popped onto the screen, as well as the game's _continue_ option.

The purple alicorn quickly shook her head, and she said, "No, I just… didn't expect him to appear like that… look, you have _ten_ more minutes, and then, it's time for bed."

"Got it," replied Spike, who hadn't even taken his eyes off of the t.v. screen.

 _Thud!_

Suddenly, a loud noise from inside the castle caught both of their attention, and the young dragon asked, "Uh… w-what was that, Twilight?"

"Um… I'm not sure, Spike," answered the curious alicorn, who started to walk out of the room.

Spike simply just watched her leave, but a moment later, she whispered, " _Spike! You coming or not_?"

Knowing that she'd probably get upset if he told her the other answer, Spike paused the game, and followed after her. " _This doesn't count as my ten minutes though, right?_ "

The two of them continued to walk down the hall, and eventually found themselves entering the Throne Room, where they noticed a cloaked pony-shaped figure lying face-down near the Cutie Map table.

" _Oh, my gosh… Twilight, is he…"_ asked Spike, letting out a nervous gulp.

" _No, Spike, look! He's still moving…"_ said Twilight, and the two of them watched the newcomer slowly start to stand up. "Um, excuse me? Are you-"

" _Nice to see you again, Princess Twilight,"_ interrupted the cloaked pony, to the alicorn's surprise, and he slowly removed his hood in order to reveal his scarred face, which had a close resemblance to Stardust's, except there was a scar over his right eye, as well as a small and metal eye-patch that covered up his left eye.

Twilight's curiousity turned into surprise, and then, it became irritation as she said, "I can't exactly say the same for _**you**_ _, Anti-Stardust._ "


	4. Questions, Part 1

**MLP: Darkness Rising**

 _Chapter 4 - Questions, Part 1_

 **Disclaimer:** _"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"_ belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, while Stardust Balance is owned by the Warrior of Twilight, and FanficFan920 is the one who created Beck.

* * *

" _... and that's pretty much everything that has happened so far."_

After Starlight had finished her sentence, Stardust blinked his eyes a few times, and looked over at Twilight.

"I only have… _one_ question to ask, princess," said the gold Earth pony.

"Go ahead, you can ask anything that you want." replied the purple alicorn.

Nodding his head, Stardust moved his pupils in an upward direction, and he asked, " _How_ in the _hell_ are you still in my _head_ if Twilight freed you and those others from limbo?"

 _Well, technically, Jack, only my 'voice' is in your head..._

"That doesn't really answer my question, though," said a frowning Stardust. "And is that why I didn't hear from you all those days?"

Starlight looked at Casey in confusion, and her friend said, "He's talking to Starswirl… who is, I guess, talking to Stardust telepathically."

 _Knock-knock-knock!_

" _It's always open!"_ shouted the both of them, and they turned their heads to see who was entering the castle. " _Um… Twilight?_ "

Before Twilight could ask what they wanted, she and Stardust saw who the visitor was, and the young alicorn's face brightened up while Stardust became speechless.

"Good to see you three again," said Starswirl, and he gave a small nod towards Casey. "And apologies for my late congrats on your recovery."

Stardust was still trying to figure out what exactly to say, and he couldn't ask Starswirl for help like usual because the bearded unicorn was standing in the same room as him.

"Hiya, Starswirl," greeted Pinkie, who had now put away the chair and table that contained several cakes. "I'm guessing you're here because I brought Stardust to the castle?"

Starswirl gave a small nod, and he replied, "More or less, Pinkie… anything else you would like for me to answer, Jack?"

After blinking quietly a few more times, Stardust finally got some words out of his mouth. "I… uh… so I won't hear you in my head anymore?"

"You won't be rid of me _that_ easily," replied an amused Starswirl. "Also, quick question, Casey - how is that one alternate version of our golden friend here doing?"

"Anti-Stardust?" said Casey, while Stardust was still trying to process everything. "I think he's okay… can't imagine him being in a situation worse than this."

* * *

After giving his greeting to the young princess, the scarred pony took one small step forward. "Just hear me out, prin - whoa, ho, _okay_...

With the tip of her horn glowing with magic, a frowning Twilight said, "If you're here to get some kind of _'revenge'_ on Jack, or do more worse stuff to me-"

Anti-Stardust held up a forehoof, and he waved what she said to the side. "I'm not here to do anything like that, princess, I can assure you."

Twilight raised an eyebrow at him.

"Look, if I'd wanted to, I could have already-" The scarred pony began to say, but after quickly realizing what he was about to tell Twilight, he changed up his sentence. "I just really need your help with something very important."

"And what would _that_ be exactly?" questioned the suspicious purple alicorn.

Before Anti-Stardust could answer her, Spike pointed at the eye-patch that he was wearing. "That's actually kind of neat. How'd you get it?"

Stardust's alternate self let out a chuckle, and began to speak in a rough tone. " _Arrrgghhh, that'd be a tale too frightenin' for a youngin' such as yerself, my boy."_

He took another step forward, but Twilight's horn glowed just a little bit brighter. "You sure that your special somepony would approve of you attacking a defenseless pony like me, princess?"

"He certainly would have done something to you at this point in time, if I'm being honest," pointed out Stardust's girlfriend.

"Eh, fair point," said the scarred pony, giving a small shrug. "Okay, I need your help in finding-"

Just as Anti-Stardust was about to finish his sentence, one of Twilight's friends had walked into the throne room. " _Hey, Twilight, I was wonder - oh, how's it going, EG Stardust?"_

"Um… this is actually _Anti-Stardust_ ," corrected Spike, causing said pony to glare at him. "What? It's not like - oh…"

 _Wham!_

Anti-Stardust flew across the room after receiving a headbutt from an angered Rainbow Dash, who then grinned as she heard him groan in pain. " _Man_ , I've been waiting forever to do that."

Twilight gave her a look, and the pegasus replied, "What? He _deserves_ that, Twilight! You saw what happened to my house because of him."

As Anti-Stardust began to stand back up, Twilight tried to calm her friend down. "Yes, I remember, Rainbow, but let him explain the reason for why he is here in the first place."

"Well, it _better_ be a real good reason, Twilight," said a frowning Rainbow, not forgetting what the pony in front of her had done to them in the past.

Once it seemed like he was able to speak, Anti-Stardust let out a sigh, and showed them what was currently on his left wrist.

"Isn't that, uh, the one watch Casey made?" wondered Rainbow, and the scarred pony gave her a quick nod.

"This is what I used to come here after I was unable to... well, okay, this is what happened."

* * *

 _Several Hours Earlier_

Two of Xenos' guards were currently standing in front of a cell door, and as time passed, it didn't look like anything would happen… until an amused voice caught their attention.

"Do I _really_ have to take care of you two again?"

Making his way out from the shadows was a smirking Anti-Stardust, who had an eyebrow raised up. "Ah, you must be the new guys, then… shall I _show_ you what happened to the ones you replaced?"

 _BZZZZZTTT!_

The two guards fired up their electric probes, and Anti-Stardust sighed before shaking his head. "Tell you what…"

In just under a few seconds, the scarred pony knocked the probes out of their hands, whacked the side of their heads against each other, and as they fell down to the ground, he said, "I'll go easy on you two _[BEEP]s_ for today… and I will take _that,_ thank you very much."

Once he had obtained the key, Anti-Stardust opened up the cell door, and quickly hurried inside to kneel down beside the pony that was now in front of him.

" _Twilight_ …"

"... _Jack?"_

Hearing the voice of the young alicorn that he had believed to be dead, Anti-Stardust gently brushed one of his forehoofs through Anti-Twilight's mane, and he was about to kiss the top of her head when her entire body suddenly glitched from out of nowhere.

" _What… no…"_ Anti-Stardust became horrified after Anti-Twilight's body vanished into thin air a few seconds later, and then, the entire cell was filled the sounds of a villainous laugh.

 _Hahahahahahaha!_

"You… son of a…" growled the angered pony.

 _Did you honestly think it would be_ _ **that**_ _easy for you to save her, Jack?_

Anti-Stardust slammed his right forehoof into the ground, and gritted his teeth in frustration. "I swear, Xenos, once I get my _damn_ hooves on you-"

 _You are no longer a threat to me, you foolish creature. Instead, you're just someone that I enjoy playing these kind of games with._

The young pony glared upwards, and he growled, "Why the hell don't you _[BEEP]-ing_ show yourself, then, instead of hiding out like a little _[BEEP]_?"

 _I don't need to answer myself to you. Have fun continuing to be alone, with no one that can possibly ever help you find your dear princess._

Silence had returned to the darkened cell, and an upset Anti-Stardust continued to slam his hoof into the ground repeatedly.

* * *

 _Present_

"I obviously know and remember everything that I have done to all of you," said Anti-Stardust, once he had finished up with his story. "But I also remember what both _you_ and my other self did for the human version of Stardust before we were seperated… so I ask if you can please do the same by helping me find out where _my_ Twilight is at."

Stardust's girlfriend didn't know how to respond just yet, but Rainbow already had something to say. "How do we know this isn't some sorta evil scheme that ends with us being captured or somethin?"

Anti-Stardust sighed, and he replied, "I don't blame you for thinking that, and nor do I plan on asking for your forgiveness, but if you can all help me find out where my Twilight is at, I promise to never show my face again."

He the young and hesitant princess a hoofshake, hoping that she would accept his attempt at a truce. "Please, Twilight… I need your help."


	5. Questions, Part 2

**MLP: Darkness Rising**

 **Chapter 5** \- Questions, Part 2

* * *

 **Disclaimer:** _My Little Pony_ and _Equestria Girls_ belongs to Hasbro, and Stardust Balance was created by the Warrior of Twilight. I just own the story.

* * *

" _Okay, so let me see if I got this right,"_ said Rainbow Dash, after Anti-Stardust had finished his story. "You - the pony that tried to make all of us hate _our_ Stardust - are asking for _our_ help in helping you to try and save your Twilight from this _Xenos_ creep?"

"More or less, yeah…" The scarred pony gave a small nod, limb still stretched out towards the alicorn for a hoofshake, and it took a moment before Twilight decided to shake it. "Thank you very much, pri-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the young alicorn said, "Don't thank me just yet, _Anti-Stardust_ … we'll do what we can, but we don't exactly trust or have faith in you a hundred percent at this particular moment."

" _Which is why_ you'll need to excuse _us_ for a moment while I talk to my friend here for a bit," added Rainbow, bringing a surprised Twilight with her out into the hall while Spike remained in the throne room with Anti-Stardust.

After a brief few seconds of silence, the young dragon asked, "So… um… how did you get that eyepatch again?"

A small smirk appeared on Anti-Stardust's face, and he replied, "Oh, y _er in for a real treat, me hearty_ …"

 _###################_

Once they were a few feet away from the doors, Rainbow released Twilight's limb from her grip, and she asked, "Are we going to tell everyone us about this?"

"In the morning, yes," replied the young alicorn, since it was currently nighttime outside, and the rest of their friends were probably fast asleep. "So for now, you can return home while-"

Rainbow's eyes widened in surprise after hearing what Twilight just told her. " _Say what?_ I'm not gonna leave the castle knowing it'll just be you, Spike, and _him_ in here while Starlight's at the Crystal Empire and… _you know_ … which is why I'm gonna stay here to keep an eye on him in case he tries to do anything bad to you."

"I appreciate your concern, Rainbow, but I don't want you to be staying up all night just to-" Twilight started to say, but Rainbow waved her hoof around as if she were pushing her friend's concerns to the side.

"I'll go to sleep once I'm sure that he's not gonna do anything to the two of you. Besides, who ever said anything about stayin' up all night? Can't be that hard to watch over someone for a couple hours."

Twilight closed her eyelids halfway as she said, "You fell asleep after two minutes in the classroom portion of Wonderbolts training, _Dashinator_."

"Hey, there's a big difference between hearing stuff that I already know about flying and keeping an eye on Anti-Stardust, alright?" said the determined pegasus. "Trust me, Twilight, I totally got this…"

 _################_

 _Several Hours Later (around 11 p.m.)_

As Rainbow slept over on one side of the throne room using sleeping materials that Twilight had lended to her, Anti-Stardust was sitting down on the floor, and he had his back laid against the wall with his own sleeping-over-set nearby on the floor.

Like all the other different versions of him, Anti-Stardust usually didn't sleep that much during the night like everypony else; instead, the young stallion was looking at a special necklace that he was currently holding up in front of him with a forehoof, which looked similar to the one that Stardust had given to his own Twilight.

 _Please be okay,_ thought the scarred stallion, and just as he began to put the silver accessory back inside one of his pockets, Rainbow suddenly sat up wide awake, looking alarmed as she cried, " _No more pies, Pinkie!"_

After quickly realizing that she'd only been dreaming, Rainbow relaxed a little bit, and then, she swiftly turned her head to look at Anti-Stardust, who gave the blue pegasus a small wave. "You're still in that same position?"

Anti-Stardust did a small nod, and he replied, "I don't really sleep the same amount as you and the others usually do… especially since I learned that the pony who I thought was dead is actually still alive."

A small scoff came from Rainbow as she said, "Well, maybe if you'd spent less time on trying to hurt us, our Stardust, Casey, and his world's versions of us, and more on keeping Anti-Twilight safe, then we probably wouldn't even be having this discussion."

"..."

"..."

The scarred pony let out a sigh, and he muttered, "I can see that it won't be easy to get on _your_ good side."

Rainbow yawned before shaking her head in agreement. "Nope, it's not… and I'm pretty sure it'll be like that for everypony else."

"Well, I think I'm off to a good start with Princess Twilight," Anti-Stardust started to say, but he was cut off when Rainbow angrily pointed a hoof at him.

" _Hey_ … me and the others all heard about what you did to Twilight over in Casey's world," hissed the blue pegasus. "So, if you ever do _anything_ to hurt her in _any_ way… even make her say _ow_ , then we-"

Anti-Stardust sighed, and he muttered, "I'm _not_ here to do stuff like that, Rainbow, really… also, I thought it was _his_ job to tell me what you're saying right now."

"She's important to _all_ of us," clarified Rainbow, who clearly had a dislike towards the scarred Earth pony, and she turned away from him before he could say anything else.

Then, she was back to being asleep a few seconds later, but Anti-Stardust was still awake, now thinking about the rest of his friends that were all in far-off locations… including one whom he would probably never see for the rest of his life.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in another world…_

" _Is she out there?"_

" _..."_

" _..."_

"... nope, we're all good," said the human version of Stardust, making his way out of the classroom, followed by the human version of Twilight. "No sign of her whatsoever."

Sci-Twi let out a sigh of relief, but as they walked over to her locker, a confused EG Stardust asked, "Why are you so… concerned about avoiding her today anyway?"

Once the young teenage girl was standing by her locker door, she replied, "It's because I asked for help in - _aaaahh_!"

" _Surprise!"_ yelled Pinkie Pie, unexpectedly popping out of Sci-Twi's locker, and making her friend quickly walked backward into EG Stardust's arms with an alarmed expression. "I had a _feeling_ you'd be here… _hi, Stardust_! How are you doin' today?"

EG Stardust just let out a chuckle as he released his girlfriend, and Sci-Twi was now trying to make herself relax. "Look, Pinkie, I really appreciate what you're trying to do for me, but it's _too much!_ All I've been able to think about this entire day is _'Where's Pinkie Pie, Where's Pinkie Pie?'_ I haven't had one moment to…"

Then, she quietly blinked her eyes after coming to a realization of something, and the purple-skinned teenager looked back over at a smiling Pinkie. "... to think about the play… Pinkie, you're a genius!"

" _You're welcome!"_ shouted Pinkie, her loud voice making both Sci-Twi and EG Stardust take a few steps back, but unfortunately, this caused one of them to get accidentally bumped into by Flash Sentry, who had been carrying a plastic cup of soda in his hand.

" _Ohhhh, no…"_ said both Sci-Twi and Pinkie, the two teenage girls looking worried about how EG Stardust was going to react since he, along with Sentry, both had the front of their shirts dripping with soda, and because they knew that the two boys weren't exactly _friends_ with each other... for obvious reasons.

"Oh, I am _so sorry_ about that, Stardust" apologized the yellow-skinned teenage boy, who also was a little worried about what EG Stardust's reaction would be. "Uh, wait right there, let me go get a towel."

He then hurried off to retrieve said object, and Sci-Twi cautiously asked, "Um, Stardust? Are you okay?"

The young man blinked his eyes for a moment, and just sighed quietly before muttering, "It's not the _worst_ thing to ever happen to me."

" _Phew!_ " said a relieved Pinkie, wiping away some non-existent sweat onto her forehead. "For a second there, I thought you were going to-"

"Alright, here you go, Stardust," said a returning Flash, handing over a towel to EG Stardust. "Again, I'm sorry that - _gah_!"

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, EG Stardust grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and with an extremely upset look, he growled, "If you _ever_ do any kind of _[BEEP]_ to me again, I swear that I-"

"Stardust?"

After hearing his girlfriend call out to him, EG Stardust turned to look at her, and he saw that Sci-Twi looked very afraid and concerned for him. _I haven't seen her like that since -_

 _############_

 _The only two people remaining on the rooftop now were Sci-Twi and Stardust, who currently had one of his hands over his left eye._

 _"Damn you, Shimmer," he muttered angrily to himself, and he brought some of his attention back over to Sci-Twi, who didn't know what to say to her boyfriend._

 _Once she was able to talk, the human counterpart of Twilight said, "Stardust… why would you…_

 _Stardust looked at the glasses-wearing teenage girl, and he replied, "No, they were unoriginal characters without any kind of personality whatsoever... [BEEP], my eye hurts like hell!"_

 _He then started to walk towards her, and Sci-Twi said "Stardust, please, this isn't the right thing to do. Why are you acting like this?"_

 _"Because for over six [BEEP] months, I have put with all kinds of [BEEP] in this world," exclaimed Stardust, trying to ignore the pain coming from his left eye. "And what happened a few days ago was the last straw..."_

 _Sci-Twi looked at his other hand, which was still glowing with dark energy, and she asked, "Are you going to... do the same thing... to me?"_

 _"If that's what it takes to get me to Equetria," replied Stardust, raising up the energized hand. "Then, so be it."_

 _The human version of Twilight looked back at the spot where her friends had been at not that long ago, and as she watched Stardust come closer to her, tears slowly started to fall down off of her face. "Star... please..."_

 _################_

Releasing Flash's shirt collar from his grip, EG Stardust instructed him to just walk away, and Flash had no problem with following the young teenager's order.

Once that was all said and done, Stardust's human counterpart looked over at Sci-Twi, and he said, "Twilight, I… I didn't mean to… it's not what…"

"I know, Star, it's okay," replied Sci-Twi, but she didn't exactly sound a hundred percent sure. "Um… I think we need to go over to my house… as in right now." She turned to look at Pinkie. "Don't tell the others about this just yet, okay?"

Pinkie nodded her head, and watched as Sci-Twi led EG Stardust towards the front doors of the school. "Alright, don't tell our friends about this… yeah, I can do that!"


	6. Greater Power, Part 1

MLP: Darkness Rising

Chapter 6 - Greater Power, Part 1

 **Disclaimer:** _My Little Pony_ is owned by Hasbro, and Stardust Balance was created by the Warrior of Twilight. I just own this story.

* * *

When Rainbow woke up again the following day, she was confused at first as to why she wasn't sleeping back in her own house, but a quick glance over at the nearby Anti-Stardust immediately caused her to remember last night's events, and the blue pegasus began to frown.

 _I know that Twilight's sort of giving him a second chance, but there's gotta be something that he isn't tell-_

" _... Rainbow… I'm… I'm sorry..."_ muttered a sleeping Anti-Stardust in a soft tone, and his expression now looked troubled, for some reason, while Rainbow's own turned to confusion as she wondered why he had said those words.

The scarred pony began to toss and turn on the blanket that he was laying on, and then, he quickly sat straight up with eyes opened wide and heavy breathing, looking like someone who'd just woken up from a bad dream.

" _What… where…_ " Anti-Stardust began looking around the throne room, and his eyes soon settled on Rainbow, his breathing returning to a calm level as he remembered what had happened last night.

"You're still here, are you?" He muttered, rubbing away the oncoming tiredness in his eyes. "Maybe Twilight should just hire you to be her official royal guard of this castle… or has Stardust already taken that position?"

Irritation flashed across Rainbow's features as she replied, "It's like I said to you last night: You hurt Twilight in any way, and I'm gonna beat the livin' skylights out of you."

Anti-Stardust gave her an unimpressed look after hearing her 'threat' towards him, and asked, "Is all of this hostility towards me _really_ just because I wrote some offensive stuff over your house?"

" _No,_ it's because..." Rainbow started to say to him, but she stopped after the two of them noticed one of the doors to the throne room opening, and watched the castle's owner make her way in.

" _Good, I was wondering when the two of you would finally be awake."_ Twilight began making her way inside, walking over to her throne. "Now we can get this meeting officially started."

Anti-Stardust was about to ask the young princess what she meant by that, but his answer was given by the entering of the rest of the Mane 6, and the scarred Earth Pony started to feel just a little nervous as he watched everyone quietly take to their respective throne.

Twilight made a gesture for him to join them, and with a sigh, Anti-Stardust walked over to the throne that belonged to his counterpart.

Just as he was about to get ready to sit in it, a scowling Rainbow cried, " _Hey! Don't even think about sitting in something that doesn't belong to you!"_

Stardust's girlfriend frowned at her friend's exclaimation, but after clearing her throat, the young alicorn said, "It would, uh, probably be best if…"

"Understood, Princess," replied Anti-Stardust, choosing instead to just stand in front of Stardust's throne, and Twilight gave a small nod.

"Right, then… the reason for why we're all here this afternoon is because Anti-Stardust has something very important to tell you all, which me and Rainbow and Spike are already aware of." She gestured over to the scarred pony with her hoof, and Anti-Stardust winced a little after seeing the rest of the ponies look at him, with only Rainbow's expression being the most negative one. "The floor is now yours."

After letting out a sigh, Anti-Stardust took a step forward, and thanked the young princess before recounting the events that had led to his appearance in the castle last night - entering the mysterious dungeon, defeating Xenos' henchmen, watching the hologram of Anti-Twilight disappear, and so on.

Then, once he was done, the rest of Twilight's friends softened their expressions a little (except for Rainbow), and the dark gold pony said, "I know I haven't exactly shown myself to all of you to be a trustworthy per - _pony_ based on what occured in the past, but as I told Twilight yesterday, I'm not asking any of you ladies to show me forgiveness. All that I am asking for is help in getting back Anti-Twilight from wherever she is being held at, and once that's done, I… uh… yes, Pinkie?"

Pinkie had been raising her hoof up in the air, and after Anti-Stardust had spoken to her, the pink pony lowered it while asking, "Just a quick question! Um, do we still call you _Anti_ Stardust, or just Stardust?"

Before the scarred pony could answer Pinkie's question, Rainbow gave out a scoff, and she exclaimed, "I have an idea - how about we just _don't_ call him by that name in any way whatsoever?"

"Huh? But he looks and sounds exactly like our Stardust and all the other ones I've seen," pointed out Pinkie. "I mean, aside from the facial scars and the rougher voice and his eyepatch and whatnot."

"How did, ah, you even get all them scars anyway?" wondered Applejack, and the dark gold pony was quiet for a moment before he answered her.

"After… someone else close to me was taken away, I ended up having a sort-of momentary _angered_ breakdown that involved a lot of, um, crystal being broken."

"Who was it?" asked Fluttershy.

Anti-Stardust became hesitant to answer the yellow pegasus, but then Pinkie suddenly raised up her hoof again, so he tried giving Fluttershy an apologetic look before going to the pink Earth pony. "Uh, let me get back to you on that real quick… yes, Pinkie?"

"How's the other me doing?" The rest of her friends all looked at her. "What? We sort of became friends the last time that I saw her."

"Why would you even _want_ to be friends with an evil version of yourself, Pinkie?" exclaimed Rainbow.

Pinkie rolled her eyes, to the pegasus' surprise, and replied, "Anti-Me isn't _that_ mean anymore, Rainbow; she just likes to blow stuff up."

"But her name is _'Anti'_ Pinkie-" pointed out a bewildered Rainbow.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean she has to act _anti_ all the time, and that's also why I asked _you_ earlier about your own name since it doesn't look like you're so mean as you used to be."

If Anti-Stardust had anything to say to her in response, he wasn't able to have that opportunity, thanks to a heated blue pegasus.

"I don't _care_ what the heck he calls himself, but it shouldn't be Stardust! He doesn't even _deserve_ to be called that!"

 _Alright, this mare's getting on my nerve,_ thought an irrited Anti-Stardust, now glaring at Rainbow. "Do you know how clueless you sound right now? First of all, I didn't ASK to be like this! You can blame that on Casey and Stardust for that. Second, what you said is... it's like me saying to Anti-Twilight that she doesn't deserve to be called Twilight."

"Well, _she_ wasn't the one who did the things that _you_ did to all of us, to Sunset, to the _actual_ Stardust, to Casey," retorted Rainbow, now hopping right out of her throne while glaring back at him. "And do _not_ call me clueless!"

Anti-Stardust scoffed, and he shook his head. "You gave me a reason anyway to say it, Rainbow, and not just with the whole 'name' thing. You have _no idea_ how dangerous Xenos is in mine and Casey's universe… hell, he'd wipe the floor with Stardust if he ever went up against-"

"Alright, that's it!" exclaimed Rainbow, who was about ready to fly towards Anti-Stardust and presumably do some damage, but found herself being held back by Applejack. "Hey, let go of me!"

"You hush up for a lil' bit," said the farmer pony, and glanced back over at Anti-Stardust. "Um, you mind steppin' out in the hall for a lil' bit while we discuss some stuff?"

The scarred Earth Pony nodded his head, and swiftly headed out of the throne room before possibly doing something that he would regret.

As for Rainbow, she collapsed to the floor after being released by Applejack. " _Oof!_ What was that for?"

"You need to take a page outta your own book, and _chillax_ for a moment," said the orange mare. "He ain't had any reason to say those kind of things 'till you provoked him into doin' it."

"Yeah, well, _he_ started it first by doing all of those bad things that happened to us in the past," reminded Rainbow, once she got back up to her hooves, and she rubbed the side of her head. "I don't even know why we're even talking about helping him in the first place."

"Um… well, he did _ask_ us in his own polite way for help," pointed out Fluttershy.

"And I can't help but feel just a little sorry for Anti-Stardust after seeing what's happened to his face and everything since the last time we saw him," said Rarity.

Pinkie just nodded her head in agreement, and Rainbow started to groan in utter disbelief. "This is just… Twilight, please tell me that-"

However, for some reason, the purple alicorn princess was no longer inside of the throne room, and a confused Rainbow asked, "Um, where did she go? I didn't even hear her walk out."

"She did her vanishing teleportation thing right around the moment your argument with Anti-Stardust got worse," replied Pinkie, which made Applejack look at the blue pegasus with disappointment, and Rainbow turned away with a small expression of guilt on her face.

After walking out into the hallway, Anti-Stardust continued onward until he heard what sounded like familiar video game music coming from a nearby room, along with the frustating cries of a young dragon.

"Um… is everything okay in here?" asked the scarred pony, standing by the doorway to what he assumed was Spike's bedroom.

"It'd be fine if I could remember what the… darn _level select_ code is for this - _shoot!_ " groaned Spike, after failing to punch in the correct pattern of numbers for the game that he was currently playing. "Really wish Dad was here to…"

 _Did he say 'Dad' right now?_ thought Anti-Stardust, eyes widening in surprise. _That must've been one hell of an episode, depending on what route Hasbro went with._

"So, you finally met your dad… what does he look like?" wondered the curious stallion. "He sleep on the roof of this place?"

Spike gave him a confused look. "No, Dad has his own room here… and he, uh, looks like - _oh, come on_!"

Anti-Stardust couldn't help but chuckle at Spike clearly not enjoying the fact that he was being so unsuccesful in punching in the game's level selection code.

"Try _1965, 09, 17."_

The young dragon gave him a confused look, and Anti-Stardust nodded his head.

"Trust me, you punch in those numbers, and it'll make a different sound effect than the one you keep getting. When you see the title screen, press A and Start at the same time, and _wa-lah,_ you got yourself the level select option… then, punch in _4, 1, 2, 6_ on the sound test to get-"

Just as he was about to finish his sentence, Anti-Stardust saw something from the corner of his eye, and Spike watched the scarred pony quietly walked away from his doorway before turning his attention back to the television screen. "So nineteen... sixty-five… nine… then seventeen, and - _whoa_!"

* * *

A silent Twilight continued to slowly walk down the long hallway until reaching the door to her bedroom, and lowered her head so that she could push it open with her horn.

Then, after closing the door behind her, the young princess went over to the area that her desk was at, and turned around while laying back against the wall, followed by slowly sliding herself down until she was sitting down on the floor, making a "THUD" after doing so.

While lowering her head, Twilight let out a sigh before looking at the necklace that she always wore, and closed her eyes, becoming unaware of an unopened letter that had fallen off her desk after having sat down.

" _What am I supposed to do?"_

Outside of the bedroom door, Anti-Stardust had a roof raised up in preparation of knocking on it, but something inside of him was saying that it wasn't a good time to talk to Twilight, so he lowered his hoof down, and walked away in silence.


	7. Greater Power, Part 2

**My Little Pony: Darkness Rising**

Chapter 7 - Greater Power, Part 2

 _ **Disclaimer**_ _: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, and Stardust Balance was created by the Warrior of Twilight. I just own Casey, and this story._

* * *

Inside the main room of his unknown hideaway, Xenos was currently looking at a digital holographic map of the entire universe, trying to figure out where exactly Anti-Stardust was at right now.

 _You won't be able to hide from me forever,_ thought the large and menacing figure, now smiling just a little after remembering something. _Especially since I still have in my grasp what you hold dear..._

" _Hey, boss!"_ The menacing villain turned his head to side, and could see from the corner of his eye one of his few loyal followers, a beautiful red-haired and deadly-looking woman named Rhoswen who had a sly smile on her own face. "I think your mad scientist is done with his new project for you."

Putting his thoughts of the scarred and traiterous individual aside, Xenos nodded his head, and said, "Wonderful. Take me to him."

 _#############_

Lifting up and removing his welding helmet, a smiling Elixir sighed in relief as he observed the handiwork that was on the table in front of him, but his smile faltered a little after hearing the sound of Xenos entering the room.

" _Took you long enough, Doctor, although I figured that you would've been done a few days ago."_

Elixir gave a nervous chuckle once he saw his master's poker-faced expression, and replied, "My sincere apologies, sir. I was very fortunate, though, in getting assistance from your daughter Serilda this past week and that allowed me to finish for you what is currently underneath this tarp."

A small scoff came from Xenos as he said, "Perhaps if you hadn't alienated my favorite and beloved daughter Emerl, she would still be here assisting you, and we would have had this discussion at an earlier date."

" _Thank you so much for the vote of confidence, Dad,"_ muttered Serilda, a Navy blue pegasus whose voice had a slight metallic edge to it, along with her right wing and one of her eyes being completely roboticized.

As for Elixir, the winged scientist hesitated for a moment before responding. "With all due respect, sir, I do not think that Emerl was not exactly strong enough to handle-"

"She was raised and trained to be one of the deadliest and toughest females ever in this entire universe, Nova," interrupted Xenos, and the silver pegasus quickly closed his mouth. "So for your sake, I highly recommend that you do not finish that sentence."

A small chuckle came from Serilda as Xenos stood at the front end of the stainless steel worktable, and he lifted up part of the tarp to see what had been covered up, the sight of it causing a small smile to appear on his face. "Are you certain that those stiches will keep her mouth permanently shut?"

"Heh, well, it would be _extremely_ painful… almost _deadly_ for her _,_ even, if an attempt was ever made to open it," said Elixir, glad and quietly relieved to see that his boss was now somewhat pleased. "Also, once I perform a field test, she will be ready for you to use on whomever you please."

Letting go of the tarp, Xenos gave a small chuckle, and nodded over at the silver pegasus. "Do the test right away. Then, have it go to Anti-Equestria so that it can take care of that traitor… and in the meantime, I want you to do something for me, Serilda."

The fierce-looking mare turned her head over in the direction of her adoptive parent, and replied, " _Yeah, sure. What is it?"_

One of the digital maps that Xenos had been looking at earlier appeared in front of him, and the sinister figure said, "There's a pony in Equestria currently in possession of one of the magical stones meant for my ultimate weapon. Do whatever you have to do to get it back for me."

* * *

After Starswirl finished talking with Casey and Twilight, a no-longer-confused Stardust was finally able to speak. "So, um, any other reason _why_ you're here exactly aside from just saying 'hello' to them?"

"Possibly, but that can wait for another time," replied the elderly unicorn, who was walking towards the castle's front doors. "In the meantime... good luck with the continued success of your school, Twilight."

Then, once Starswirl was out of Twilight's castle, Stardust sighed and rolled his eyes, saying, "I hate it when he acts like - wait, what? You have an actual _school_ now?"

"Uh-huh," said a smiling and proud Twilight, with Stardust now looking surprised while everyone else nodded in agreement. "It's the-"

"The School of Friendship!" cried out Pinkie while Twilight rolled her eyes in amusement. "Tomorrow's actually going to be the re-re-opening… well, for certain ponies, I mean… cause the first time didn't exactly go so hot, and the reason why this past Friday doesn't really count is because there are some new students coming in to be a part of Casey's class."

A slight unimpressed expression appeared on Stardust's face as he turned his attention over to Twilight's special someone. "Oh, yeah, the pony with a human name… can't really say I'm exactly curious about whatever the heck _your_ class' subject will be."

"I figured you'd say something like that," said Casey, who was almost mirroring the same expression as him. "Speaking of which, I just remembered that I have to go make a few more adjustments to my classroom, so Twilight... I'll be back later. Pinkie? I could use your help-"

"Cool!" The energetic pony nodded her head, and began to follow the young stallion out of the castle. "Later, Spike, Starlight, Twilight! Bye, Stardust, see you around! Oh, and welcome to Ponyville!"

Stardust let out a quick chuckle while Starlight watched Casey leave with concern, and once they were gone, the pink unicorn said, "Um, I'll be back in a little bit."

Then, after Starlight walked out of the castle, the gold Earth pony looked over at Twilight with a slight smirk. "I get the feeling that your boyfriend's not exactly pleased with me being here."

"No, no, it's not you," replied the young princess, shaking her head. "Well, I mean, it kind of is, but not exactly… Casey's just dealing with some, uh, 'friendship issues' regarding your counterpart from another universe."

"... right, sure," said Stardust, still trying to wrap his head around the fact that there was another version of himself in a parallel universe, currently in a relationship with that world's version of the princess that was standing in front of him. _Lucky damn bastard._

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in that other universe…_

Even though it had only been a few minutes since a sitting Twilight had laid herself back against the wall, it felt more like a few hours once she had lifted her head back up.

 _Alright, come on, be a big mare,_ thought the young princess, attempting to give herself a pep talk. _Just find a way to - huh?_

Noticing the unopened envelope that had fallen from her desk, a curious Twilight used her magic to place it front of her, and her expression changed to slight boredom after recognizing what kind of envelope it was.

 _Ah, great,_ thought the purple alicorn, rolling her eyes. _This is_ _ **just**_ _what I need right now - someone who completely missed the point of why the Friendship Journal was even published in the first place, and has decided to give me his or her 'concerns' over probably what's mostly written inside of the book. I swear, if it's another pony telling me that I was better before I earned my wings..._

With very limited enthusiasm, Twilight magically ripped open the top half of the envelope, and pulled out a letter from an unknown reviewer of the Friendship Journal that she'd had published throughout all of Equestria, which she began to read in a dry, uninterested tone.

 _Sometimes, one can make friends in the most unexpected circumstances. You could meet someone entirely... different in looks and personality to yourself and… still establish a connection..._

"Wait, what?" Twilight suddenly found herself doing a double-take after noticing that the letter's writing style was very familiar, along with how it was being presented to her word-wise, and started over from the beginning.

" _Sometimes, one can make friends in the most unexpected circumstances. You could meet someone entirely different in looks and personality to yourself and... still establish a connection."_

Twilight's eyes widened up a little once she fully realized who it was that had written the review, and a small smile started growing on her face.

 _###############_

At the same time, Rainbow had been walking down the hall, having been sent by Applejack to check on their friend after a few minutes had passed since Twilight's departure, and was currently muttering to herself about how the rest of the girls all agreed that the blue pegasus might have gotten a little ahead of herself.

 _Ok so maybe I did, and maybe I didn't_ , thought Rainbow, now turning left at the corner to start going down another hallway, but her train of thought (as well as her own self) came to a halt when she saw Anti-Stardust at the far end of the hallway, holding up in front of him a necklace that looked exactly like the one Twilight always wore.

" _Hey!"_ yelled the blue pegasus, causing him to turn his head in her direction. " _That doesn't belong to you! Give it to me now!"_

Anti-Stardust raised an eyebrow at Rainbow, and put the necklace back in his cloak's pocket. "Over my dead body, Rainbow. It doesn't belong to you, either."

 _#############_

" _The ties of friendship is something one could never completely understand regardless how much we try, but once it's deep enough, we can witness how beautiful the magic of friendship brings people and ponies closer than we ever deemed possible."_

The smile on Twilight's face grew with every sentence that she finished, her feelings of sadness from earlier quickly fading away as she read aloud the words that were written by her special someone.

"And these six wonderful mares - not to mention one amazingly awesome young dragon - have proven this time and time again with the lessons incorporated into this fantastic reading material. We're taught that there's far more to friendship than we could dream of."

Twilight paused her reading for a moment, wondering if she should head back over to the throne room now and show this letter to everyone else, but she also noticed that the review was almost done anyway.

…

…

 _I'll act like I haven't read it yet,_ thought Twilight, deciding to simply go ahead and finish reading the rest of it since there wasn't much left to be read, and because this was something that she needed.

"Kindness. Honesty. Loyalty. Laughter. Generosity. Family. Equality. And, last but just as crucial, Magic."

A warm feeling of happiness spread out through the alicorn's body. " _We could definitely learn a lot from these amazing individuals, each as important to one another as the last. The magic of friendship is certainly a challenge to obtain. But you know what? It is definitely something worth fighting for."_

Just as she was about read the last few remaining sentences, there was a knock at her door, and the voice of a concerned Applejack asking, "Twi? Everything alright in there?"

"Huh? Y-yeah, I'm okay," replied Twilight, quickly placing the letter back in the envelope and onto her desk before heading over to open the door, seeing the rest of her friends standing out in the hallway with concerned looks… but someone was missing. "Where's Rainbow at?"

"I told her to check up on you after we talked to her 'bout getting too carried away with her anger and everythin', sugarcube," explained Applejack, while everyone else either smiled sheepishly or stayed concerned. "But a few minutes later, we heard this loud 'boom' sound, and…. well, um… I reckon you got yourself a new window."

A confused Twilight walked out to see what her friend was talking about, and her eyes became wide once she saw what appeared to be a long scorch mark trailing down the hallway, leading all the way up to a hole in the wall that showed the bright and sunny outdoors.

" _My castle… I mean, the castle!"_ exclaimed the alicorn, quickly running over to the wall while her friends followed after her, and once they were at the hole, the five ponies looked down to see what appeared to Rainbow wrestling with Anti-Stardust on the grass-covered ground.

" _Give… me… that necklace, you… lame excuse for a counterpart of my friend,"_ exclaimed Rainbow, trying to get out the accessory from his coat, but Anti-Stardust continued to knock her hooves away.

" _You are making it… so hard for me to not... lay my own hooves on you,"_ replied the scarred pony, even though he was sensible enough to know better. " _Get off of me, you… damn stubborn, little pony!"_

Just as it looked like Rainbow was about to remove his special eyepatch, she felt herself being magically lifted off of Anti-Stardust. " _Hey! What's the big i… oh_ …"

As Twilight kept Rainbow in the air, a head-shaking Applejack asked, "What in all of Equestria tarnation has gotten into you, Rainbow Dash? Why are you attackin' him for no reason?"

"I wasn't _attacking_ him, I was _wrestling_ with him," corrected the heated pegasus. "And I was getting back the necklace that Stardust gave to Twilight-"

"You mean the silver one with the book and spinning star pendant that's currently around her neck?" finished Pinkie, making Rainbow confused as she looked back and forth between the two.

"But how… I thought…" Not knowing what else to say, Rainbow let out a groan, followed by a sigh before muttering to the young princess. "Alright, alright… can you put me down, please?"


	8. A New Leaf, Part 1

**MLP: Darkness Rising**

 _Chapter 8 - A New Leaf, Part 1_

 _ **Disclaimer**_ _: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, and Stardust Balance was created by the Warrior of Twilight. I just own Casey, and this story._

* * *

" _... and, done!"_ Pinkie grinned with happiness, using her hoof to gesture around the classroom that Casey would officially be using for five days a week starting tomorrow. It looked like any regular classroom except the walls were all painted with a variety of colors, and there were shelves that contained things such as stuffed toys, board games, etc., along with a few balloons floating up by the ceiling. "So, what do you think?"

A small smile appeared on Casey's face, and he replied, "It's perfect now, Pinkie… but, uh, you should probably keep all of the red balloons in your classroom. Beck's not going to want to be my temporary assistant if he sees those floating around in here."

"Eh, fair enough," said the pink pony, giving a small shrug before grabbing ahold of the thin white strings, and floated out of the room while a chuckling Casey went to his desk.

 _Uh, Casey, I highly doubt that there's anyone out there who might have lost someone close to them or someone who feels 'invisible' are going to come in here to learn how to make friends with-_

 _Just wait until Monday, Rainbow. I guarantee that I'll have_ _ **some**_ _students of my own by the end of the day._

The light-orange Earth pony let out a sigh, and gave a small nod while placing a hoof on the wooden object. "She will come… she has to come…"

" _Um, who are you talking about exactly?"_

Casey looked up to see Starlight standing by the doorway, and he smirked at the pink unicorn. "Nothing important, _Guidance Counselor_ Starlight, but how nice of you to drop by and visit my class. So let me guess - your office isn't big enough so you want to switch rooms with me?"

" _Haha_ , very funny," said Starlight, letting out a dry chuckle before getting more serious. " _Soooo_ , today's certainly been interesting for all of us, huh? I mean, Beck's no longer seen as a threat to Equestria… and now we know now that our world has its own Stardust."

Casey's smile dropped a little after she said that last part, and he gave a small shrug in response. "Yeah, just wonderful, ain't it?"

 _And, here we go_ , thought Starlight before she continued to talk. "You know, I was sort of, uh, expecting you to be… well, practically jumping for joy after you met him."

"... and why would I have done that?" said Casey, raising an eyebrow at Starlight.

"Well, it's probably _because_ your best friend is him that lives in the parallel version of our world," reminded Starlight, not understanding why he wasn't showing much happiness, but then she remembered the way that he had acted during the ride back home from Canterlot. "I mean, he _is_ still your best friend, right?"

The young stallion was silent for a moment before replying with a hint of sadness. "I… _used_ to believe that… but now I'm not so sure anymore."

Just when Starlight was about to say something, there was a knock over at the front door, and a floating Pinkie made her way towards it. " _Don't worry, I got it_!"

"What do you mean you aren't so sure?"

Casey responded by giving Starlight a small shrug. "It's just… different now."

Once she was in front of the door, the pink pony hopped down to the ground, and opened it up to find herself looking at a green female pegasus that had an occupied leather sheath held to her side. "Well, _hiya_ , new pony, I'm Pinkie Pie! But, uh, this school's technically not open until tomorrow, so…"

"Don't worry, Pinkie, I'm not here to learn about friendship," replied the visitor.

Giving her a confused look, Pinkie asked, "Then why did you come-"

" _Emerl_?" The two mares turned their attention over to an approaching Casey, who was surprised because he had not seen her since their fight against Anti-Stardust aboard Elixir's ship, and Starlight's eyes widened in surprise after remembering when Casey had told everyone what had happened.

"Oh, so _this_ is the pony that helped you save Twilight's counterpart?"

Casey nodded his head, but for some reason, Pinkie sighed in relief. "Ah, okay, so this _isn't_ the pony that gave a thank-you kiss before going into a portal to figure out where she came from… or is it?"

Starlight looked over at a pink-faced Casey,who gave a sheepish chuckle, and Emerl rubbed the back of her neck with her hoof. "Yeah, about that… I'm sorry, and… I, um, hope I didn't cause any problems between you and your Twilight."

"Nah, don't even worry 'bout it," assured Pinkie, wrapping a limb around the young mare's neck. "A word of advice - just make sure that you don't bring it up in front of Twilight… I mean, not that she's the type of mare of would be jealous, but if someone mentioned the fact that you'd found yourself wanting to kiss-"

"Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Starlight. So what brings you here to our new school?" wondered Starlight, while Emerl moved Pinkie away from her, and after shaking the pink unicorn's hoof in a polite manner, the pegasus looked back at Casey with a serious expression.

"Please tell me that you still have the Memory Stone."

Casey nodded his head, and he replied, "I mean, it's not _with_ me, but I have it in my room back in the castle-"

"Wait, I thought the Memory Stone was useless after Wallflower broke it into a bunch of pictures," said Starlight, now feeling a little confused. "Why would you be interested in a small rock?"

"Because there's a very powerful stone placed _inside_ of that small rock," answered Emerl. "And I have a bad feeling that someone's coming here to get it… which is why I need _you_ to give it to _me_ so-"

Just as she was about to finish, Pinkie suddenly groaned in disappointment, and cried, "Aw, come on, we _just_ got this school opened up again two days ago… oh well, I was hoping to show this to Twilight first, but-"

She pulled out a small remote with a single red button on it, but just as the pink pony was about to press it, Casey cried, " _Whoa, ho, hey,_ she meant coming here to Ponyville, Pinkie… and... _what_ exactly does _that_ do?"

"It's to activate the security system I had put in yesterday," answered Pinkie, with Starlight placing a hoof on her forehead and Casey sighing. "Better safe then sorry, right?"

* * *

 _Meanwhile, back in another universe…_

After setting her friend down on the ground, Twilight pointed at Anti-Stardust, followed by the damage done to the castle, and she said, "Can you apologize now, please, for what you did?"

" _Wha… you want me to apologize to him?_ " exclaimed Rainbow, looking at Twilight in disbelief.

The purple alicorn nodded her head, and pointed again at the castle, with Rainbow adding, "Well, I think _our_ Stardust did say something about wanting to add in a few more windows, so… _ow_!" She glared at Applejack while rubbing the back of her head. "You know, AJ, one of these days you're going to give me a concussion or something!"

"Not with your kind of head, you ain't," replied the orange Earth pony. "Now get on with the apologizin' before you give me a reason to do it again."

The rest of their friends nodded in agreement, and as she crossed her fore limbs, Rainbow groaned in annoyance until saying, "Alright, _fine_ , I'm sorry for supplying the castle with a new win - _okay, I was kidding..._ for making a hole in the wall."

" _And…?"_

Rainbow looked over at Anti-Stardust, the two of them just staring at each other in silence for a moment until Applejack raised up her hoof to thump her friend again, and the pegasus cried, "What? I just told him that I was sorry!"

"What - no, you did _not_!" replied Applejack, but Rainbow nodded her head.

"Yes, I _did_ … just not, you know, out loud." She tapped her forehead, and Twilight let out a sigh before nodding in agreement, with Applejack giving the alicorn a confused look until realizing what Rainbow meant. "Oh, you just _had_ to take the easy way out, didn't ya?"

A smug smile began to show up on Rainbow's face, but then Anti-Stardust said, "I have _no_ idea what you're all talking about. I only heard her apologize for the window hole."

"I gave you a _mental_ apology," explained Rainbow, looking at him in disbelief. "You didn't hear me talk to you inside of your mind?"

Anti-Stardust shook his head, and Applejack smirked at the blue pegasus. "Well, alrighty then, now you can give out an apology the actual way - by sayin' it _out loud_."

"But I just… _uuuggghhh…_ " groaned Rainbow, muttering to herself until she let out a sigh. " _Fine!_ I am… _sorry_ … for practically spearing you through the castle wall… there, you happy now?"

Anti-Stardust gave a small nod, and after rolling her eyes, the young pegasus said, "Can I ask you something else?"

"Sure, why not?" replied the scarred pony, shrugging his shoulders a little bit, waiting for her now to give a question.

"..."

"..."

Rainbow let out a sigh, and she asked, "Um, w-where is… the other me at?"

 _##############_

" _Star, I… I can't hold on…"_

" _No, don't you do this to me!" yelled Anti-Stardust, holding onto the pegasus' hoof as tight as he possibly could. "I'm not going to let my best friend be sucked into… a [BEEP]ing portal, so -_ _ **[BEEP]!**_ _"_

 _An electrical worm had crawled its way out of the portal, and struck the scarred pegasus' left eye before suddenly going back in, but even though his eye was now burning like hell, Anti-Stardust was refusing to let go._

" _Rarity's gone… AJ and Fluttershy are gone…" exclaimed the dark gold Earth pony. "Twilight… is who the hell knows… and I'm_ _ **not**_ _going to let the same thing happen to-"_

 _WHOOSH!_

 _The portal's suction power increased greatly, and Anti-Stardust could feel his grip starting to slip. "No… I won't… I…"_

" _Stardust?"_

" _ **No!**_ _Don't you tell my any kind of-" He started to say, but was cut off after feeling Anti-Rainbow's lips crash against his, and the young pony found himself returning the favor out of instinct._

" _... I hope you find her," said Anti-Rainbow,after pulling away a few seconds later, and before Anti-Stardust could say anything, the young pegasus released her hold on his hoof, allowing the portal to suck her in._

" _ **Rainbow!**_ _"_

##############

After being asked that question, Anti-Stardust turned his head to the side, and he replied, "She… I don't… I don't know… "

However, that answer wasn't good enough for Rainbow. "How can you _not know_? I thought you two were close-"

"I _said_ that I didn't know, you... _damn..._ _stubborn... pegasus… gah!_ " growled a frustrated Anti-Stardust, who'd turned around to release his anger by shooting a dark energy fireball into the air, but for some reason, all that came out was a small spark of energy. " _What the…"_

He tried doing it again, but the results continued to be the same. "How is… this can't be right… _gah_!"

All of Stardust's friends watched as the frustrated pony tried to create some sort of magical dark magic attack, and continue to fail miserably.

" _Um… should we tell him something?"_ whispered Applejack, with Pinkie giving a shrug, and everyone else looked over at Twilight, who had no idea herself on what to do.

But then, after failing an attempt one last time, Anti-Stardust sat himself down on the grass, panting heavily for a while until he let out a deep sigh, and he began to speak in an emotional tone, although it sounded more like he was talking to himself. "Please… I… I'm sorry for what I did to you all, to my other self, to Casey and his friends, to _everyone_ … I just… please help me find my friends… I'll do anything, just…"

Even though she wasn't exactly happy with him, Rainbow couldn't help but feel a small amount of sympathy for Anti-Stardust after seeing that he was practically begging them for their help.

 _We have to help him._

The young pegasus looked over at Twilight, who nodded her head, and they glanced over at the rest of their friends, who all seemed to be in agreement with helping Anti-Stardust.

"Well… can you at _least_ …" Rainbow said, with the scarred pony starting to look up at her. "Just stop with the waterworks so that you can tell us _how_ we… can help you, uh, and stuff."

"..."

"..."

With most of his emotional pain gone, Anti-Stardust gave a small smirk. "You're one to talk… about waterworks, Rainbow… whenever your turtle has to hibernate."

Pinkie let out a small giggle after hearing that, and Rainbow looked at her. "What? I thought it was a _littl_ e funny."

"Are you, uh, okay now, sugarcube?" asked Applejack.

"Yeah, I'm… fine, I just…" Anti-Stardust shook his head, and gestured over to the castle. "If you want to know more… we have to go to… to my world… to Anti-Equestria."


	9. A New Leaf, Part 2

MLP: Darkness Rising

Chapter 9 - A New Leaf, Part 2

 **Disclaimer** : " _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_ " belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, and Stardust Balance was created by the Warrior of Twilight. I just own Casey, and this story.

Also, yes, I apologize for the shortness of the chapter, but this story is going to be a long anyway, so I hope you're all okay with this.

* * *

With a glass of water in his hoof, Anti-Stardust brought it up to his mouth in order to drink from it, and sighed in relief as the ice-cold liquid went down his throat. " _Ohhh,_ I needed that… thank you, Fluttershy."

The young Pegasus nodded her head, and gave a polite smile. "You're welcome, An… uh… Star… um… dust."

Almost half an hour had passed since the young stallion's outburst of anger resulting in a momentary breakdown of sadness and apologies, and aside from the obvious facial scars, Anti-Stardust was looking more and more better, but inside was still something different entirely.

"You have issues with my name, too?" wondered Anti-Stardust, slightly smirking at the yellow pegasus that was now shaking her head.

"Oh, no, no, it's nothing like that, I just… uh… well, _anti_ sounds a little negative now to use since you, um, aren't really being that much of a mean pony anymore…"

He took another drink from his glass of water, and gave Fluttershy a small appreciative smile after setting it down. "Well, that's a positive start, and I'm glad that _someone_ here understands so far where I'm coming from."

The yellow pegasus simply returned Anti-Stardust's warm expression with her own smile, but that changed once he asked, "Hey, can I… uh, ask you something? If that's okay…"

Fluttershy nodded her head, and Anti-Stardust looked around the spare room that they were currently in at the moment. "Where's my other self at? I'm surprised he hasn't shown up yet during all this time I've been here to, like, give me some hell…"

"Oh… um…" To his surprise, the young mare's warn smile became more of a sheepish one, and she started to rub the back of her neck. "Stardust is… doing his 'imbalance fixing' thing out in the Crystal Empire… yeah, he's been there for several days now, actually."

Anti-Stardust blinked his eyes for a moment whilst Fluttershy remained quiet, and then, the scarred stallion gave a small shrug before drinking the rest of his water."Alright, then, good for him… um, you mind if I step out for a while? I feel like taking a walk around this place."

Fluttershy shook her head, and the scarred pony nodded politely as he walked out of the room, then down the hall until he'd eventually reach the door to the bedroom of his counterpart.

Then, after letting out a sigh, Anti-Stardust carefully opened the door - surprised, at first, that it was not even locked since he had assumed it would be - to look at what his other self's room was like since the last time he'd been here.

 _Not much of a difference, really,_ thought the young stallion, who was reaching into a pocket of his cloak to pull out a picture that showed Stardust with the Mane 6 and Cutie Mark Crusaders. It had previously been burned back in Anti-Equestria on the day he'd sworn to ruin Stardust's life, but thanks to a certain spell, the stallion had been able to bring it back, and right now, he was placing it carefully on his desk.

 _Baby steps, Stardust… baby steps._

Feeling a little bit better at what he'd just done, the scarred stallion nodded his head and was about to leave when a familiar voice was heard by the doorway. " _Stardust?_ "

Despite feeling a little nervous, Anti-Stardust kept his cool, and turned himself around to see a pink unicorn that he quickly recognized. _Starlight Glimmer._ But, for some reason, she had a confused expression on her face that changed to one of realization. "Oh, sorry, I thought… wait… you look familiar… aren't you the human version of Stardust from that one alternate world?"

The scarred pony moved one of his forehoofs side-to-side, and he replied, "Sort of, but not exactly… I'm the version of Stardust that, er, provided you and the others with a one-way trip to London."

Starlight's expression became confusion again for a moment or two until she remembered the events that he'd been talking about, and not to his surprise, the pink unicorn now began to look annoyed and irritated.

"... and why exactly are you in _this_ room?" asked Starlight, a slight edge in her voice as she spoke, while Anti-Stardust let out a sigh, hoping this wouldn't be like his situation with Rainbow.

Holding up one of his hooves in defense, the scarred pony replied, "Look, Starlight, I'm not here to cause any trouble or anything - _gah_!"

The next thing he knew, he was being lifted up into the air by Starlight's magic, and quickly pulled out of the bedroom, with the unicorn closing the door before declaring, "Oh, _really_? Cause there always seems to _be_ trouble whenever **you** show up - in this world, Casey's world, your _own_ world… you think I'd forget all of the stuff you did?"

Still hovering in front of her, the scarred Earth Pony shook his head. "No, I know you would not forget… but I'll tell you what I told everone else, okay? I'm not here to cause trouble, only to have them come with me to Anti-Equestria so-"

" _Excuse me_?" Starlight's expression became more annoyed and suspicious, with Anti-Stardust feeling a tight grip on his body. "Why would _they_ go with you to your world?"

Before he could answer the unicorn's question, another familiar voice came from behind them. "He's tellin' the truth, sugarcube. And believe me, I'd know if he was lyin' to us."

Starlight looked over at Applejack in silence, still keeping Anti-Stardust suspended in the air, and the orange pony sighed before adding, "It's fine, Starlight, trust me. He ain' here to cause any sort of ruckus. He needs our help in tryin' to figure out where his Twilight's bein' held up at."

Part of Starlight was believing what Applejack was saying, but she still wasn't releasing Anti-Stardust from her hold. "How do you know he isn't tying-"

"... Starlight… it's fine…" To the pink mare's surprise, Twilight suddenly appeared beside Applejack, who almost found herself jumping back in surprise. "... please put him down."

Anti-Stardust just forced himself to be patient a little while longer until he was finally released from Starlight's magic. "... thank you…"

Starlight barely gave him a nod before turning her attention over to Twilight. "... what about… you know…"

"... he's already had a say," replied Twilight, to the others' confusion. "I'll explain later… but what's important to know right now is that all six of us, plus you and Spike, are going with him into Anti-Equestria so we can help save his Twilight… and possibly the rest of his friends."

 _Wherever the heck that the portals sent them,_ thought Anti-Stardust, blaming himself for the moment that he'd been unable to save his beloved friends.


	10. New Information, Part 1

**MLP: Darkness Rising**

Chapter 10 - New Information, Part 1

Disclaimer: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, and Stardust Balance was created by the Warrior of Twilight. I just own Casey, and this story.

Also, yes, I apologize for the shortness of the chapter, but this story is going to be a long anyway, so I hope you're all okay with this.

* * *

After taking his seat out on the castle steps, Anti-Stardust let out a sigh, and began rubbing closed eyes with his forehooves.

 _Just relax, Stardust… relax..._

Everything that had happened to him since having woken up this morning was starting to give him a headache, and the scarred pony was doing his best to lower his rising blood pressure.

" _Um… are you, er, okay?"_

Anti-Stardust turned his head to the side, and was a little surprised to see Spike taking a seat beside him, but at a certain distance. "I'll be fine. Just needed a… moment to myself…"

He glanced back over at the castle doors, assuming that Starlight was currently trying to figure out from Twilight why exactly they were going with him to his world.

"You mind if I ask you a question?"

 _I mean, he already has,_ thought Anti-Stardust before nodding his head in a polite manner, and watched as the young dragon gave a sigh, as if also trying to feel relaxed.

"Why… um… do you hate your other self so much?"

 _Ah._ The young Earth Pony rubbed the back of his gold-colored neck, and replied, "I don't really… _hate_ him like how I used to… and that was because… well, to make a long story short, I blamed him for all of the things that ever happened in my life… but one day, I learned that wasn't the case at all… so there's not really a need _for_ me to be angry at him."

Spike nodded his head, understanding what he was saying to him, and Anti-Stardust finished by adding, "Not saying that we're going to end up being the best of friends or any of that friendship stuff Twilight's learned, but I'm content with admitting that… I can respect who he is, and those that he is close to… does that answer your question?"

"Yeah, it… it does," replied Spike, a small smile appearing on his face, which made Anti-Stardust start to feel his own appear on his face, and the young dragon looked back at the doors. " _So… think you could tell me the rest of the story involving your eyepatch?_ "

Anti-Stardust gave a chuckle, and smirked as he said, "Alright, but don't let Twilight know that you know what I'm about to tell you…"

 _################_

Waving away the magical viewing portal that she had created to see what Spike and Stardust's counterpart were doing, Starlight looked back over at Twilight. "Does he know about-"

Twilight shook her head, and Starlight gave a small sigh whilst rubbing the back of her neck as she added, "You know I'm only looking out for everyone's safety, Twilight… Anti - I mean, his track record isn't exactly one that makes me completely comfortable."

The two mares were inside of the throne room, Starlight standing beside the Map table and Twilight sitting in her throne, with the purple alicorn saying, "I understand what you mean completely, Starlight… but this _is_ a friendship problem, even without being called by the Map, and I'm willing to give him a chance for the sake of getting back those he cares about."

Starlight looked over at Stardust's empty throne for a moment, and then back to Twilight as she said, "Alright… um… will we need to bring anything with us over to his world?"

Twilight was about to shake her head, but then she paused to think about what her answer would be. " _Well… there were some books I figured would be best for us to bring…_ "

* * *

 _Casey's World_

"So _that's_ what you see in that… in him?" Twilight nodded her head. "Huh… well, I… I mean, it's your choice to be with Casey, so…"

"Thank you, Stardust," replied the young alicorn, already sensing that her world's version of Stardust wanted to move on to something else. "So you haven't met anypony else that-"

Stardust gave a scoff, followed by a smirk, and he shook her head. "Not really looking to be in a relationship for the time being… especially now that I know… well, anyway, I-"

" _And now we're back in the castle again!"_ called out Pinkie, speaking like a tour guide as she opened the doors for Emerl to step inside, along with Casey and Starlight.

"I still don't get why we just came in through the back since - oh…" While Casey went up the stairs to his room, Emerl stopped her sentence once she noticed that Twilight and Stardust were now looking at her. "Hey there, Princess… um… it's been a while."

"Emerl… how nice to see you… safe," replied Twilight in a polite manner, while Stardust remembered the last time he had seen the green Pegasus.

Pinkie gave Emerl a pat on the back, and chuckled as she said, "See? _Told you_ she wouldn't be upset or anything about the kiss that-"

Starlight cleared her throat, and looked over at Stardust. "So, ah, what room you plan on staying at time to time? We have plenty to choose from… come to think of it, I'm surprised the rest of our friends don't have their own special room that-"

"Whoa, okay, let's not talk about that sort of stuff yet…" interrupted Stardust, the young stallion shaking his head. "I want to know more now about this _Xenos_ guy that used, um… Wallflower as a puppet in Sunset Shimmer's world."

Before Twilight could give him an answer, Casey returned to them, and handed over the remaining piece of the Memory Stone to Emerl, who gave an answer to Stardust's statement. "He's someone that should not be underestimated… and is currently trying to find the locations of six immensely powerful stones, with this being one of them."

" _Wait, what?"_ All of the ponies in the room replied, with Pinkie suggesting that she must be mistaking them for the Elements of Harmony, but Emerl shook her head.

"This is something _much_ greater than the Elements… these stones are spread out all across this universe, and at this moment, he will have already obtained the stone that represents power."

Twilight noticed a change in the pegasus' expression, and found herself asking, "How would he have done that exactly?"

Emerl let out a sigh, closing her eyes for a moment while giving the alicorn princess an answer. "By… taking care of those who were keeping it safe on their planet… or so they had thought."

"Wait a sec, do you mean…" Starlight said, with Emerl nodding her head, and almost everyone's mouths dropped in shock. " _The whole planet's inhabitants?_ "

"No, only half of them… and not just them, but also all of the animals and plant life-" Emerl began to say, but stopped when she noticed Stardust now having a frown. "What?"

The golden-furred Earth Pony looked at Emerl, and he replied, "You seem to know a _lot_ about this stuff… should we be concerned as to why and how?"

Emerl remained silent for a moment before letting out another sigh, with Casey and Twilight noticing that she was not exactly fond of what she was about to say next.

"Because… I'm Xenos' _daughter_ … he took me from my planet as a child…" Emerl then glanced down at her weapon placed in its sheath. "... and he's also the reason why I was trained to be one of the fiercest beings in this universe."

 _##############_

 _Location: Unknown_

" _Where_ _ **is**_ _the other symbiote, Miles?"_ asked Xenos, the menacing figure currently having his right foot pressed against the chest of a certain Pegasus that Twilight and Casey were friends with. _"I do not want to repeat myself a third time."_

The elderly Pegasus coughed a few times, and he quickly shook his head, also trying his best to breath. "Someone… broke in and took it when I was gone… I have no idea who it was or why he did - _ack_!"

"Miles, I am starting to lose my patience now in this matter," retorted Xenos, pressing his foot down a bit more, and looking unamused. "So either tell me who you think-"

Just as he was about to finish his sentence, Elixir suddenly bursted through the main doors, and he looked completely concerned. "Sir, we have a… really major issue… our test subject that I showed you earlier has escaped, and… I have no idea where she could be at."

Xenos remained silent for a few seconds before looking back down at Miles, who then coughed and gasped for air as he felt Xenos' foot be taken off of his body. "Leave now before I decide to end your life in 3 seconds."

Miles used as much strength as he could to fly over to the portal that had brought him into Xenos' lair, and the cloaked figure shook his head before going back to Elixir. "Start preparing my ship… I know exactly where the _subject_ will be, and when the time is right for me to get the stone that represents space itself."

Elixir nodded his head, and hurried his way out of the room before Xenos could have second thoughts, with the menacing figure looking at his Gauntlet that currently bore a purple-colored stone.

"Time will soon be on my side… _heh_ … and not even the magic of friendship can stop me now."


	11. New Information, Part 2

MLP: Darkness Rising

 _Chapter 11: New Information, Part 2_

* * *

Disclaimer: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, and Stardust Balance was created by the Warrior of Twilight. I just own Casey, and this story.

Also, I thought it'd be good for me to let you all know that a 'time jump' for 'Casey's world' will take place in the next chapter.

* * *

 _"I'm Xenos' daughter…"_

"Wait, hold… hold on a sec. You mean that… you… daughter… _him_?" Casey blinked his eyes in surprise, and finding himself having some trouble saying a full sentence. "Really?"

Emerl silently nodded her head, not exactly up for talking just yet herself, while Twilight had a concerned expression and began to feel some more sympathy for what the mare must have gone through at a young age while being raised by someone like Xenos.

"So, I'm guessing 'take your daughter to work' days weren't exactly pleasant, then?" Starlight gave the forest-green Pegasus a sheepish smile, and Emerl gave a soft sigh before shaking her head.

Then, she began to start walking out of the castle, but stopped when Twilight asked, "Wait a minute, Emerl… where are you going to go now?"

The troubled Pegasus gestured to the entrance doors, and she took a moment to give the Princess a response. "It's my job to make sure that no other problems involving Xenos bring deathly harm to this world… for as long as I can, anyway. He has caused too much pain and suffering already. Please understand why I must do this."

The group of friends quietly watched as she walked out of the castle, and once Emerl was gone, Starlight asked, "Right, okay then… should, uh, we try to find out more about these other _immensely powerful_ stones?"

"I'd prefer not to," muttered Stardust as he rubbed his forehead with a slight frown. "Everything that has happened so far today is giving me a headache now."

"Oh, so it's _not_ just from me hitting you with a frying pan," said a chuckling Pinkie, with Twilight raising an eyebrow in her direction causing the Earth Pony to stop and also begin to head out. "I'll see you all at school tomorrow!"

 _As if_ , thought the gold-colored stallion, who was now looking for the nearest object that resembled a couch, but his plans were stopped by a smirking Starlight appearing magically in front of him. "I _did_ say that we'd have to find you a room. Surely your headache didn't make you forget that simple piece of information."

Stardust avoided the need to roll his eyes, but before he could give a reply, he noticed a head-shaking Casey heading up the stairs now to presumably his bedroom. The gold-colored stallion looked over at Twilight, who replied, "He'll be fine… um… make yourself at home, okay? And thanks for helping him, Starlight."

Her former pupil nodded her head, with Twilight teleporting away, and the unicorn looked back at Stardust before gesturing to the other set of stairs. "Come on, I'll make sure you get a room with a very comfortable bed."

Stardust gave the pink pony a small smirk. "If by that you mean _'allows me to sleep for hours'_ , then lead the way, Starbright."

"Star- _light_."

"Right, right, my mistake…"

 _###################_

Meanwhile, in a different universe, Anti-Stardust was now making his way back into the castle's library… and was surprised to find the Mane 6 appearing to have been waiting for him, along with Spike and Starlight.

"Is something the matter, darling?" asked Rarity.

The scarred stallion shook his head after a quick moment of silence, and he replied, "No, I just… wasn't expecting you all to be ready to leave… well, _now_."

"Well, the next party I'm planning won't be until the end of this story, so I've got plenty of time to spare," assured Pinkie, with almost everyone giving her a confused look. "What?"

Anti-Stardust looked over at the activated Crystal Mirror device, and then at Twilight, before saying, "Alright, then… but just a heads up - things aren't always what they seem to be in Anti-Equestria. It has that name for a reason, after all."

"We'll keep that in mind," replied Starlight, who still was not yet fully pleased with helping him, but figured that the sooner they helped, the quicker it would be for him to be out of their lives. "Lead the way, Star… dust…"

Twilight placed a hoof on the unicorn's shoulder, giving her a small smile, while Anti-Stardust nodded his head before making his way to step through the magical portal, and suddenly finding everything around him become a swirling rush of intensity.

A few moments later, the scarred pony stumbled a bit while walking out of the portal that stayed in his own castle's library, and shook his head a few times. "I don't recall traveling through the mirror being _that_ hectic."

"Really? Seems pretty easy to me," said Rainbow Dash, now entering the library after Anti-Stardust had taken a moment to clear his head, and he rolled his eyes after seeing the Pegasus begin to smirk.

Rarity was next, and her eyes wandered around the room as she said, "Oh, my… do you not know how to clean up in your own castle, Stardust?"

"Well, I haven't exactly been _home_ in a while," replied Anti-Stardust, with Rarity giving him an ' _oh'_ expression, but couldn't help chuckling as he watched her use magic to organize the room a little better as everyone else made their way in.

"Um, pardon me for askin', sugarcube," said Applejack, looking a little confused. "But where would we even start to look for our other selves? I don't think any of 'em would be in this here castle… unless we've been with your Pinkie this entire time."

The pink Earth pony shook her head while spring-bouncing around the room. "Nope, just the same ol' Pinkie you've always known since-"

"I just need some time to think and clear my head," answered Anti-Stardust, with Twilight and Spike sharing a look of concern. "In the meantime… um… feel free to look around and explore."

As the scarred pony walked out of the room and into the halls, Pinkie looked at the rest of her friends before saying, "You sure this isn't our Stardust with amnesia or something? I mean, yeah, he's not in a human form anymore, but-"

" _Oh! Be careful, Rarity,"_ gasped Fluttershy, who had flown over to catch a small spider with one of her hooves after Rarity had accidentally knocked over its web with some of the books that were floating across the room. "You okay, little guy?"

The small arachnid nodded his head, and the yellow Pegasus gently lowered him to the ground so that he could scurry away elsewhere, with Rainbow giving her a confused look. "What?"

"Alright, everypony, let's all look around the castle to see if we can find anything that might help us out," said Twilight, with the others soon nodding their heads, and everyone going off in different directions.

However, one of them was going in the same direction that Anti-Stardust had, unaware of the surprising information that she would soon have knowledge of…

 _###################_

" _Princess Twilight?"_

Tempest carefully made her way into the castle through the front door, with Beck and a yawning Grubber coming behind her.

"You think maybe we should've knocked first?" The round-shaped animal asked, with Beck shaking his head in response.

"No one really does, honestly."

Tempest gave out a sigh, but before she could say something, the familiar voice of Twilight called out from the upstairs loft. "Tempest?"

 _POOF!_

The purple pony gave a small head nod before finding herself being hugged by Twilight, and tried to not smile too widely as she replied, "I'm sorry if this arrival is late for you-"

"I can take the blame for it," interrupted Beck, raising up a forelimb sheepishly. "The distance between here and my home is longer than I thought."

Twilight continued to smile, and gestured around the castle while saying, "No worries; what matters now is that you're all here safe and sound. If it's okay, Beck, you're welcome to stay the night after helping Tempest and Grubber find their : rooms to sleep in."

"Really? Oh, um… sure, thank you, princess," replied Beck, giving a grateful smile.

"It's my pleasure. Make yourselves at home… see you in the morning!" Twilight said, and flew away from the new guests to head back to her own room.

As for her special somepony, Casey was already laying down on his bed, but it wasn't becoming easy for the young stallion to sleep… nor was he able to sense a small black mass of goo make its way into the room through the window that he had opened to let in some fresh air.

 _Why… why, Stardust…_ thought Casey, starting to feel irritation and some growing frustration toward the pony from another dimension that he viewed as both a brother and best friend; or, at least, up until several months ago when no one from that universe had contacted him.

 _He's messing with my emotions somehow… this 'other version' of himself suddenly showing up… how dare he treat me like this…_ Casey could feel his body begin to warm up, with the small mass now climbing onto the bed so that it could get closer to him. _After all of what I did for that ungrateful… this is how he repays me… well, then, if that's how it will be from now on, so_ _ **be**_ _it._


	12. Changed Times, Part 1

**MLP: Darkness Rising**

 _Chapter 12: Changed Times, Part 1_

 _Disclaimer: "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" belongs to DHX Media and Hasbro, and Stardust Balance was created by the Warrior of Twilight. I just own Casey, and this_ story.

* * *

 _"And so, here I am, talking with you…"_

Several months had passed since Emerl's visit/departure to Twilight's castle, and plenty of _interesting_ things had taken place in Equestria since then… but that's for another story.

" _Huh, and you all thought 'I' was the crazy one."_ The young pony that Casey was currently talking to gave a look of disbelief, and the brown-orange stallion just smirked back in response.

"Says the pony who was _this close_ to being locked up and sent to Tartarus. Now you're just locked up in Twilight's dungeon."

Looking around the room, the little prisoner gave out a small groan of irritation, followed by a sigh. "I didn't even know the princess of _friendship_ had a dungeon in her pretty castle."

"There's clearly a _lot_ of things you don't know, Cozy Glow," said Casey, who then looked upon the former school student a look of sympathy. "But it doesn't have to be that way forever… if you could just give-"

"I'm not interested in the whole ' _friendship is the key to bringing yourself joy'_ or whatever Twilight has in her big book of Life lessons," replied the small Pegasus, along with rolling her eyes. "So if that's all you're going to say to me now, then I'd prefer if you could just leave me alone."

Casey sighed in disappointment, even though he had been expecting this kind of response from her. "Alright, then, see you next time."

The Earth Pony then began to walk away from Cozy's cell, with the occupant watching him close the door behind him as he left, and he let out another sigh. _She's probably never going to change._

 _ **I second that.**_

Frowning a bit in confusion, a walking Casey looked from side to side, but he didn't see anyone else aside from himself. "What the… who just…"

 _ **You know who I am.**_

Casey slowly stopped walking, and stopped to turn his attention over to a mirror that was hanging on the wall, where he saw only his reflection.

"Alright, just get ahold of yourself," the young pony assured himself. "No reason for you to - _gah_!"

Doing a double take after seeing something else in the mirror's reflection, Casey was about to speak when a familiar voice nearby asked if he was okay.

"Huh? Um, yeah, I'm… doing okay, Spike," nodded Casey, and giving the winged dragon a small smile. "Just, ah, was remembering stuff in the past that happened in the dungeon. Has our new 'roomie' came back from…?"

Spike shook his head and shrugged before replying, "For someone who's the alternative-ish version of a 'human-turned-pony' in a parallel universe, he certainly enjoys spending his time with Sunset and-"

"I get it, thanks…" Casey sighed, and glanced back at the mirror. "Guess all of 'em are the same no matter what world they're in."

" _Well_ , I wouldn't say that _exactly_ ," said Spike, since he knew that their Twilight had been having conversations with her other self that came from the 'main' _Stardust_ world. "Maybe he just isn't able to… you know…"

The brown-orange Earth pony began to walk away, and he looked over at Spike. "No point in trying to make this a positive, buddy. Besides, at this point, I'm just over it completely."

As he watched his friend become out of sight, Spike let out a sigh, and flew off in the opposite direction. "Hopefully the other Twilight's having better luck in her world."

Going back to Casey, the young stallion was still trying to figure out if what he had seen in the mirror prior to Spike's arrival was reality or just his imagination.

 _ **You can't avoid me forever.**_

Shaking his head a few times, Casey stopped by an open window, and looked outside to the peaceful sky, hoping now that wherever Emerl had gone, she was doing alright.

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in another universe..._

Several hours after she'd arrived in the castle of Anti-Stardust with her close friends, a curious Rainbow Dash was now entering a room that she guessed might have belonged to her other self because of the various flying-related materials located all over the bedroom.

 _Kind of reminds me of my own place back home,_ thought the Pegasus, except that she didn't see any sign of her other self owning a pet turtle. _Does Tank even exist in this wbefore_

"Yeah, but he likes to spend most of the time in the sea." Rainbow almost let out a yelp as she turned to see the scarred version of Stardust Balance standing in the doorway. "Sorry, I just had a feeling you'd discover this room eventually."

"Oh, well, no problem. I was just about to… leave anyway," replied the blue winged pony, since she still didn't completely trust him. "Has Twilight or any of the others found any clues that could help us learn where your own friends might be?"

Before Anti-Stardust could give her an answer, a familiar _whoosh_ appeared, and a gasping Pinkie Pie now stood beside him. "Anti-Star, we think Twilight may have found something! Come on!"

"Pinkie, what - _aaahh_!" The scarred pony found himself now being pulled away by the pink Earth pony, and in a matter of seconds, he was standing in front of the purple alicorn inside the throne room, with the rest of the Mane 6 nearby minus Rainbow nearby. However, the Cutie Map was currently not glowing on the table; instead, Twilight had placed what looked like various pieces of a-

"Where did you find all this?" wondered Anti-Stardust, and Twilight used a wing to gesture around the room.

"I spent some time trying to clean up the mess so it'd be better to search for something helpful, and… I ended up finding what you're now seeing here."

What currently layed upon the table was the parts of a weapon that, when activated, would create an electric portal and strongly pull in whoever was near. Then, it would send those who were unfortunate to a place that was known to some as _dimensional limbo_.

"Exactly…" Twilight nodded her head, after Anti-Stardust had said those words out loud. "I have a… well, bad feeling that Xenos used this on… your friends, and that… is where they are currently."

The scarred pony became silent, taking all of this information in while a concerned Fluttershy asked, "Is there a way to, um, get them _out_ of limbo, Twilight? I mean, isn't that what Starswirl was trapped in for so many years?"

Twilight shook her head, and she replied, "I'm afraid not, Fluttershy… this is a more _advanced_ version of limbo, and the only pony I know who came out of it… he's currently not an option." As much as she wanted to travel to that universe in order to receive assistance from Casey, Twilight knew it currently wasn't the best time.

"Well, there's gotta be _somethin'_ we can do, sugarcube," said a determined Applejack. "We all agreed to help Anti-Star here save his friends, and I don't see any point in stopping now."

Rarity looked upon the damaged weapon with some concern. "Um, are you sure about trying to fix that device yourself, darling? Not that I don't trust you to do so, but… we wouldn't want you to get-"

"Neither would I, Rarity," agreed Anti-Stardust, and he looked over at a certain unicorn that had remained quiet since Pinkie had brought him into the room. "But if she had help from, say, a _student_ of hers…"


	13. Changed Times, Part 2

**MLP: Darkness Rising**

 _Chapter 13 - Changed Times, Part 2_

 _Disclaimer:_ Hasbro/DHX are the rightful owners of this franchise. I just own this story, any OCs, etc.

 _Author's Note:_ In regards to the show, the previous, current, and following chapters are taking place just a few days before the season 9 finale (ep. 24-25).

* * *

 _"I don't know about this, Pinkie."_

 _"Relax, Twilight, he's totally got this. ALRIGHT, YOU ARE GOOD TO GO, BECK!"_

The two mares were currently at a grass-covered field, next to a bull's-eye that Pinkie had painted in regards to what was soon about to happen with Beck since the green Earth pony was currently above them atop a hill. The reason for this was that Twilight had suggested to the reformed pony about creating a suit of armor in a style similar to his mechanical wings, and the "training exercise" for today was to see if it could work while being worn alongside said wings.

" _Loud and clear, Pinkie!"_ Beck replied, and he began to take a few steps back. Then, after taking a deep breath, the Earth pony started to run towards the edge of the cliff, and the other two ponies watched as he jumped right off.

 _Whoosh!_

"Yep, there go the wings," said Pinkie, with Beck now flying around in a circle whilst Twilight let out a small sigh of relief. For the most part, it seemed like Beck would be able to wear the complete attire without any - "Oh, that can't be good."

Small parts of the wings were starting to short-circuit and send off electric sparks, so the stallion began to make his way back to the cliff as quickly as possible, but it wasn't long before he eventually began falling down close to where Pinkie had put the bull's eye.

 _Thud!_

The wings crashed down while Beck hovered a few feet above it, courtesy of being held by Twilight's magic. "Thanks, Twilight… so I'm guessing that is a no on the suit-wings combo."

Shaking her head after letting Beck down safely, the princess of friendship gave an apologetic smile. "Better we keep them separate, Beck. Sorry for the wings being damaged."

"No need to worry, Twilight," assured the Earth pony, as he and Pinkie both placed the metal wings into a wagon they had brought with them. "I've been meaning to do some more upgrades on them anyway."

"Upgrades that don't include putting ponies inside a burlap sack?" Pinkie questioned in an innocent tone, with Twilight now giving her friend a look and Beck letting out a soft chuckle. "What? I was just kidding."

* * *

Back in the castle, Casey was currently looking through some important notes on a desk inside the library until a familiar voice said, " _I'm guessing that you haven't made much progress with the little prisoner, huh?"_

As Starlight began to make her way inside, Casey chuckled for a moment before giving her a response. "A little bit, and it's better than nothing at all… so I don't think she'll be trapping us again the way she did a while back anytime soon. Is that why you haven't paid her a visit yet?"

"Let's just say that she's _lucky_ I haven't gone down there yet," said Starlight, and the pink unicorn looked over at the nearby Crystal Mirror. "You or Twilight give the invitation yet to-"

"The _big event_ for Twilight that's happening in a few days? Yeah, Sunset said that she would try to make it in time since she's currently at some far away concert backstage thing or whatever." Casey then drank from his nearby glass of water, and was about to continue when he noticed Starlight giving him a slightly raised brow. "What?"

Starlight nodded over to the Mirror again, and she said, "I wasn't talking about Sunset, I knew she already got her invite. I was going to ask if Stardust or _his_ Twilight-"

At the mention of the name _Stardust_ , Casey started to frown, and Starlight could've sworn that her friend's eyes were begining to darken. "I bear no ill will towards Princess Twilight, but I am highly doubtful that she'd be able to attend considering the whole _time difference_ between our worlds… not to mention that she's probably having her hooves full with whatever problems my _old friend_ has to fix in his world."

"But it doesn't hurt to _try_ , though, right?" Starlight replied, with Casey fighting the urge to roll his eyes. "You all have been through so much since that day in the Crystal Empire, and I know it's been a while since he-"

"A _while_ , Starlight?" Casey interrupted, with a slight edge now added to his voice, and even Starlight became a little surprised. "In almost _three years,_ I have not seen _or_ heard from my _friend,_ and I am legitimately on the _verge_ of asking _either_ Twilight to have it so there can't be anymore traveling down between our worlds."

 _ **I think it's time for us to get some fresh air.**_

Before Twilight's former pupil could say anything in response, Casey began to walk away from the table, so she asked, "Where areyou going now?"

"Outside for some fresh air," answered Casey, and left the library without saying another word.

Once he was gone, Starlight gave the Crystal Mirror one more look, as if she were considering going to the world that she had mentioned to deliver said coronation invite, but the pink unicorn eventually sighed before also making her way out of the room.

 _Maybe I should ask Twilight if she would be okay with - huh?_

Starlight suddenly stopped walking, and looked a few times around the hallway with a confused expression. _That was… weird._ She then began to slowly resume her walk. _I could've sworn I felt some sudden burst of magic nearby. Strange._

Little did she know that the castle's dungeon was, as of now, currently unoccupied…

* * *

 _Meanwhile, in another universe_

"Um, Pinkie Pie, _where_ exactly did you find this much rope?" Rainbow asked, as she watched Applejack and Fluttershy tie one end of two separate ropes around the waists of Anti-Stardust and Starlight while Twilight and Spike worked fast on the final repairs to the damaged weapon.

"In the bedroom of my other self," replied Pinkie, in a casual tone before giving a shrug. "Not sure myself why she had it in there."

Once Fluttershy was done with Anti-Stardust, he politely thanked the kind Pegasus before looking over at Starlight, who was also now tied up securely. "While I sincerely appreciate you going with me into… _there_ … you know that you didn't exactly have to volunteer yourself."

"I am aware of that, but I have my reasons for doing this… with one of them being that you clearly aren't in the best condition to bring back _all_ of your friends from dimensional limbo on your own." The pink unicorn then used her hoof to point out Anti-Stardust's appearance. "Not to mention that I think this should make us even for what happened back in Twilight's castle."

Letting out a small chuckle, the scarred pony just shook his head before turning his attention to the alicorn princess once everyone had heard the sound of the device being activated, and it was currently aiming at the Cutie Map table via Twilight's magic.

"Just another reminder, okay? Once you two have found everyone, just give your rope a tug, and we'll pull from our end as quickly as possible."

The two ponies nodded their heads, and Twilight added, "Good luck, Starlight, and good luck, J…"

She paused for a moment, with Anti-Stardust quickly figuring out what she was going to say, and the stallion gave her a small smile that the alicorn returned in kindness. "Thanks, Twilight… all of you, really, for helping me out."

"That's what friendship is all about, sugarcube," said Applejack, giving him a small pat on the back before stepping a few feet away from the table. "Let'er rip, Twilight."

"Alright, in 3… _2… 1…_ " The princess let out a deep sigh, and fired a small enough blast to the table. Instead of it becoming bits and pieces, there was now a portal hovering over the entire table, and Fluttershy let out a quick yelp when small sprouts of static energy shot out. _"Go!"_

Starlight and Anti-Stardust quickly leaped into the portal, with the group of friends now just watching two separate ropes go deeper and deeper inside.

"Um, Pinkie, darling, _how_ much of their rope is going in there?" Rarity wondered, as everyone looked at the two piles of rope placed near the door, with neither looking to be small anytime soon.

The party-planning pony responded with an honest shrug, which made Applejack shook her head. "I'm not sure about that either, Rarity. I brought as much as I could in case they had to go _really, REALLY_ far into limbo to find our other selves."

"So, then how are _we_ supposed to know when either of them _tug_ the rope for us to start pulling?" Rainbow asked, with a look of disbelief on her face.

"That's easy, Dashie! We just wait for the rope to almost run out, grab the ends once we see them, and then pull after we feel the tugs," answered Pinkie, with the two piles having shrunk by only a few inches.

Letting out a quick yawn, Spike began to walk out of the room with the intent of exploring the castle some more. "I'll be back in a little bit, then, everypony. Just start yelling and stuff once it's time to bring them out."

Applejack looked over at Twilight, as if they both knew what a possible solution would be, and the purple pony replied, "Let's just wait a few more minutes. Then, I'll use my magic to shorten the rope."


End file.
